GIFT   OF 
MICHAEL -REESE 


C  |Va 

- 


Stage-coach   and   Tavern    Days 


Travel  in  the  South  in  the  Thirties. 


Frontispiece. 


STAGE-COACH-AND 
TAVERN-DAYS 


By    ALICE    MORSE    EARLE 

Author  of  Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days,  Child  Life  in 

Colonial  Days,  and  other  Social  and  Domestic 

Histories  of  Colonial  Times 


"  Long  ago,  at  the  end  of  the  route, 
The  stage  pulled  up,  and  the  folks  stepped  out. 
They  have  all  passed  under  the  tavern  door  — 
The  youth  and  his  bride  and  the  gray  three-score. 
Their  eyes  were  weary  with  dust  and  gleam, 
The  day  had  gone  like  an  empty  dream. 
Soft  may  they  slumber,  and  trouble  no  more 
For  their  eager  journey ,  its  jolt  and  roar, 
In  the  old  coach  over  the  mount  ai 


UNIVERSITY 
NEW   YORK 
THE    MACMILLAN    COMPAl 

LONDON:    MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1901 

AH  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,    1900, 
BY  THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  October,  1900.      Reprinted  January, 
1901 ;   March,  1901. 


Norwood  Press 

J.  S.   Gushing  &  Co. — Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO  MY  HUSBAND 
HENRT  EARLE 


Contents 

Chapter  pagc 

I.  The  Puritan  Ordinary      ....                     i 

II.  Old-time  Taverns  .          .          .          .          .          .30 

'  HT.  The  Tavern  Landlord      ....                   62 

IV.  Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways           ...        76 

V.  Kill-devil  and  its  Affines             .          .          .          .100 

VI.      Small  Drink I2I 

VIL  Signs  and  Symbols            .           .          .           .           .138 

VIII.  The  Tavern  in  War         .           .          .          .          .170 

IX.  The  Tavern  Panorama     .          .          .          .          .194 

X.  From  Path  to  Turnpike    .          .          .          .          .223 

XI.  Packhorse  and  Conestoga  Wagon         .          .          .241 

XII.  Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles       .          .      253 

XIII.  Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts  .          .291 

XIV.  A  Staging  Centre  ......      308 

XV.  The  Stage-driver    .           .          .          .          .          .320 

XVI.  The  Romance  of  the  Road        .          .          .          .340 

XVII.  The  Pains  of  Stage-coach  Travel         .          .          .361 

XVIII.      Knights  of  the  Road 373 

XIX.  Tavern  Ghosts       ......      409 


List  of  Illustrations 

Travel  in   the   South  in   the   Thirties.       From   painting   by 

Edward  Lamson  Henry,  N.A.         .          .          .    Frontispiece 

Page 
Ordinary  at  Duxbury,  Mass.  .....          3 

Taproom  Furnishings  of  an  Old  Ordinary.  Owned  by 

Miss  Elizabeth  Nicholson,  Providence,  R.  I.       .          .  7 

Oldest  House  in  Easton,  Mass.;  once  an  Ordinary    .          .        10 
Leather  Black-jack        .  .  .          .          .          .          .14 

Tavern  Bill  against  East  Church,  Salem,  Mass.  Owned  by 

Essex  Institute      .  .  .          .          .          .          .16 

Taproom  of  Wayside  Inn,  Sudbury,  Mass.         .          .          .19 

Buckman  Tavern,  1690,  Lexington,  Mass.        .          .          .23 

Hound-handle  Tavern  Pitcher         .          ....        26 

Sign-board  of  Hayden  Tavern,  Essex,  Conn.  Owned  by 

Connecticut  Historical  Society  .  .  .  .28 

Indian  Queen  Tavern,  Bladensburg,  Md.  From  painting 

by  Edward  Lamson  Henry,  N.A.  .  .  .  facing  32 

Old  Road  House,  Md.  ; 34 

Plate,  City  Hotel,  N.Y.,  Staffordshire  Ware  .  .  .38 
Cato's  House,  N.Y.  From  an  old  print  .  .  .41 

Washington  Tavern,  Westfield,  Mass.  .  .  .  .43 
Door  Latch,  Washington  Tavern,  Westfield,  Mass.  .  .  45 
Wadsworth  Inn,  Hartford,  Conn.  Photographed  by  Mr. 

George  C.  Atwell,  Hartford,  Conn.  ...  47 
Taproom,  Wadsworth  Inn,  Hartford,  Conn.  .  .  .51 
Fountain  Inn,  Medford,  Mass.  .  .  .  .  .54 


x  List  of  Illustrations 

Page 

Sign-board  of  N.  Mowry's  Inn,  Lime  Rock,  R.  I.      Owned 

by  Miss  Elizabeth  Nicholson,  Providence,  R.  I.  .        57 

Pine-tree  Tavern  and  Eagle  Tavern,  East  Poultney,  Vt.     .        59 
Sign-board  of  Washington  Hotel,  Salem,  Mass.      Owned  by 

Essex  Institute      .          .          .          .  .          .  .63 

Sign-board  of  Hays'  Tavern,  West  Brattleboro,  Vt.    .  .        65 

Cooper  Tavern,  Arlington,  Mass.  .          .          .          .68 

Travellers'  Rest,  Shelbyville,  Ky.,  1783  .          .          .71 

Miller's  Tavern,  Lancaster,  Penn.  .          .          .  -73 

Ellery  Tavern,  front,  Gloucester,  Mass.  .          .          .          .79 

Ellery  Tavern,  lean-to,  Gloucester,  Mass.          .          .  .83 

Bill  of  Cromwell's  Head  Tavern,  Boston,   Mass.      Owrned 

by  Mrs.  H.  M.  Hunt,  Kingston,  R.  I.     .          .     faci?ig  86 
Bill  of  Fare  of  City  Hotel,   Hartford,   Conn.      Owned  by 

Mr.  George  F.  Ives,  Danbury,  Conn.       ...        89 

Platter,    Mendenhall   Ferry   and   Tavern,   Schuylkill   River, 
Penn.      Owned  by  Miss  Frances  C.    Morse,  Worces 
ter,  Mass.  .          .          .          .          .          .          -93 

Collin's  Tavern,  Naugatuck,  Conn.      Photographed  by  Mr. 

George  C.  Atwell,  Hartford,  Conn.  .  .  .97 

Old  Rum  Bottles          .   -  .          .          .  .          .102 

Burgoyne  Tavern,  Westfield,  Mass.          .          .  .-     106 

Tavern  Pitcher,  Happy  Farmer,  Crouch  Ware  i  .          .109 

Flip   Glasses,    Loggerhead   and  Toddy   Stick.       Owned   by 

Pocumtuck  Valley  Historical  Association    .          .  1 1  o 

Porcelain  Monteith  Bowl,  1700      .          .          .          .          .115 

Punch   Bowl,  bearing   Insignia  of  Order  of  the   Cincinnati, 

Chinese  Ware      .  .          .          .          .          .          .117 

Sign-board  of  Amherst  Hotel,  Amherst,  Mass.     From  History 

ofAmherst  .          .          .          .          .          .          .123 

Eagle  Tavern  and  Sign-board,  Newton,  N.  H.  .          .      1 26 


List  of  Illustrations  xi 

Page 

Cider  Pitcher  and  Cups,  Copper  Lustre  Ware  .  .  .129 
Parsons'  Tavern,  Springfield,  Mass.  .  .  .  .131 
Toby  Fillpots,  Staffordshire  Ware.  Owned  by  Miss  Frances 

C.  Morse,  Worcester,  Mass.  .  .  .  .134 

Flip  Glasses  and  Nutmeg  Holders.  Owned  by  Miss  Frances 

C.  Morse,  Worcester,  Mass.  .  .  .  .136 

Sign-board,  Stratton  Tavern,  Northfield  Farms,  Mass.  Owned 

by  Pocumtuck  Valley  Historical  Association  .  .140 
Sign-board,  Three  Crowns  Tavern,  Salisbury,  Lancaster 

County,  Penn.      Painted  by  Benjamin  West        .          .143 
Browne's  Hall,  Danvers,  Mass.      .          .          .          .          .145 

Hat  Tavern  and  Sign-board,  Leacock  Township,  Lancaster 

County,  Penn.  Signboard  painted  by  Benjamin  West  147 
Sign-board,  Bissell's  Tavern,  East  Windsor,  Conn.  Owned 

by  Miss  Emma  B.  King,  Indianapolis,  Ind.  .  .  151 

Sign-board,  Reverse  Side,  Bissell's  Tavern,  East  Windsor, 

Conn.      Owned  by  Miss  Emma  B.  King,  Indianapolis, 

Ind. .153 

Sign-board  of  William  Pitt  Tavern,  Lancaster,  Penn.  .  .156 

Sign-board,  Doolittle  Tavern  .  .  .  .158 

Sign-board,  "A  Man  loaded  with  Mischief,"  London,  Eng. 

Painted  by  Hogarth facing  \  60 

Sign-board  of  Walker's  Tavern,  Charlestown,  N.  H.  Owned 

by  Worcester  Society  of  Antiquity  .  .  .  .162 
Drawing  for  Ames  Sign-board,  Dedham,  Mass.  .  165 

Buck  Horn  Tavern,  N.Y.,  1812.  From  an  old  print  .  168 
Old  North  Bridge,  Concord,  Mass.  .  .  .  facing  \  7  ^ 
Boston  Liberty  Tree  and  Tavern.  From  an  old  print  .  1 74 

Stavers  Inn,  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  .  .176 

Handbill  of  Wolfe  Tavern,  Newburyport,  Mass.  .  facing  178 
Sign-board  of  Wolfe  Tavern,  Newburyport,  Mass.  .  .180 


xii  List  of  Illustrations 


Hancock  Tavern,  Boston,  Mass  ......      182 

Sam  Fraunces.      From  original  drawing.      Owned  by  Mrs. 

A.  Livingstone  Mason,  Newport,  R.  I.     .          .  .184 

Green  Dragon  Tavern,  Boston,  Mass.  From  an  old  print  .  187 
Conkey  Tavern,  Pelham,  Mass.  From  History  of  Pelham  . 

facing   i  88 

Sign-board  of  Conkey  Tavern.  From  History  of  Pelham  .  1  90 
Naval  Pitcher,  Liverpool  Ware  .  .  .  .  .192 
Washington  Tavern,  North  Wilbraham,  Mass.  .  .196 

Black  Horse  Tavern,  Salem,  Mass.  .          .          .  1  99 

Sign-board,  Stickney  Tavern,  Concord,  N.  H.      Owned  by 

New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  .  .  .  .203 
Sign-board  of  Keeler's  Tavern,  Ridgefield,  Conn.  .  .  205 
Plate,  Nahant  Hotel,  Staffordshire  Ware  .  .  .  .206 
Sign-board  of  Wolfe  Tavern,  Brooklyn,  Conn.  Owned  by 

Connecticut  Historical  Society  .          .          .          .211 

Postlethwaite's  Tavern,  Lancaster  County,  Penn.  .  .214 
Sign-board  of  Pembroke  Tavern,  Plymouth  Turnpike,  Mass. 

Owned  by  Bostonian  Society  .          .          .  .          .217 

Map  Pitcher,  Liverpool  Ware          .          .  .          .  .220 

Waiting    at     the     Ferry.       Painted     by     Edward     Lamson 

Henry,  N.A.  .  .  .  .  .   facing   226 

Old  Chain  Bridge,  Newburyport,  Mass.  .  .   facing  230 

Bridge    Toll-board.       Owned   by   Mr.   A.    G.    Richmond, 

Canajoharie,  N.Y.          .          .          .          .          .          .233 

Megunticook  Turnpike  .          .          .          .          .          .235 

Advertisement  of  Mail-stage  .....      236 

Bridge   Sign-board.       Owned  by   Bucks   County  Historical 

Society        ........      239 

A  Wayside  Friend,   North  Conway,  N.  H.      From  photo 

graph  by  T.  E.  M.  and  G.  H.  White      .          .   facing  242 


List  of  Illustrations  xiii 

Page 

Conestoga  Wagon.  Photographed  from  an  old  wagon  facing  246 
Stage  Wagons.  From  print  in  an  old  English  story  book  .  251 
English  Coach,  1747.  From  a  painting  by  Hogarth  .  254 

Quicksilver  Royal  Mail,  1835,  London,  Eng.  From  an 

old  print     .......   facing  256 

"  One  Hoss  Shay  "      ......   facing  258 

"  Washington"  Chariot.  Owned  by  Misses  Francis,  Spring 

Green  Farm,  Warwick,  R.  I.  .  .  .  .259 

Advertisement  of  Stage  Lines.  From  first  issue  of  New  York 

Commercial  Advertiser,  1797  .  .  .  .261 

Stage-coach  of  1818.  From  an  old  print  .  .  .  264 
Stage-coach  of  1828.  From  an  old  print  .  .  .265 

Concord  Coach,  built  in  1863.  Owned  by  "Buffalo 

Bill''- 266 

Concord  Coach  at  Toll-gate.  From  photograph  owned  by 

Major  Lewis  Downing,  Jr.,  Concord,  N.  H.  .  facing  268 
Advertisement  of  Pioneer  Line  Stage-coaches  .  .  .278 
The  Omnibus  "Accommodation"  between  Springfield  and 

Chicopee  Falls,  1843 273 

Notice  of  Post-rider,  1799 276 

Old  Mail-coach  and  Sign-board,  Barre,  Mass.,  1840  .  280 

Pitcher,  Quincy  Railway,  Staffordshire  Ware  .  .  .284 
Veazie  Railway,  Bangor,  Me.  From  an  old  print  .  .  286 
The  Arrival  of  the  Train.  From  a  painting  by  Edward 

Lamson  Henry,  N.A facing  288 

Uncle  Ame  Morris's  Oxen  serving  as  Locomotive.  From 

an  old  print .  289 

Pease  Tavern,  Shrewsbury,  Mass.  .....  292 

Old  Arcade,  Shrewsbury,  Mass 294 

Harrington  Tavern,  Shrewsbury,  Mass.  ....  299 
Balch  Tavern,  Shrewsbury,  Mass.  .  .  .  .  3O1 


xiv  List  of  Illustrations 

Page 

Advertisement  of  Ginery  Twichell's  Stage  Lines.     Owned  by 

American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  Mass,    facing  304 
Ginery  Twichell's    Ride.      From   drawing  owned   by  Mr. 

Frederick  A.  Currier,  Fitchburg,  Mass.      .          .          .306 

Sign-board  of  Tarleton  Inn,  Piermont,  Cohos  Turnpike,  I\.  H. 

Owned  by  Mr.  Amos  Tarleton,  Haverhill,  N.  H.        .      310 
Sign- board,    Reverse,    of  Tarleton    Inn,    Piermont,    N.  H. 

Owned  by  Mr.  Amos  Tarleton,  Haverhill,  N.  H.        .      312 
Bliss's  Tavern,  Haverhill,  N.  H.    .  .          .          .          .      314 

Old  Sleigh  with  Double  Dashboard  .          .          .          .316 

Old  Passenger  Pung 318 

Relay  House,  Dorchester,  Mass.     .  .  .          .          .321 

The  Relay.     From  painting  by  Edward  Lamson  Henry,  N.A. 

facing   324 

View  of  Middletown,  Conn.      From  an  old  print        .          .      327 
Deerhide  and  Pigskin  Trunks  .  .  .  .  3  3 1 

Old  Carpet  Bag.      Owned  by  Mrs.  Voice  Adams  Beecher, 

Brooklyn,  N.Y. 333 

Sign-board  of  David  Reed's  Tavern,  Bedford,  Mass.     Owned 

by  Concord  Antiquarian  Society        .  .          .          •      337 

Midsummer  along  the  Pike    .....  facing  344 
A  Vista  of  White  Birches       .          .          .          .          .          .346 

The  Hollyhock's  Promise 348 

The  Cool  Depths  of  the  Pine  Woods.      From  photograph  by 

T.  E.  M.  and  G.  H.  White  .          .          .  facing  348 

Taylor's  Tavern,  1777,  Danbury,  Conn.          .  .  .350 

M.  M.  Taylor's  Milestone,  Danbury,  Conn.    .  .  .351 

Peleg  Arnold's  Milestone,  Woonsocket,  R.  I.      From  photo 
graph  by  Mr.  Edward  Field,  Providence,  R.I.  .      352 
The  Watering  Trough            .          .          .          .          .          -355 
Topsfield  Bridge,  1760.      Ipswich  River,  Mass.          .          -357 


List  of  Illustrations  xv 

Page 

The  Shadowy  Water  under  the  Arches.      From  photograph 

by  T.  E.  M.  and  G.  H.  White  .  .  .  facing  358 
Winter  Stage,  Dalton,  Mass.  ....  facing  362 

Winter  Stage,   Chepachet.      From  photograph  by  Mr.  Ed 
ward  FlJ'd,  Providence,  R.  I.  .          .          .          .364 
Advertisements  of  Carriages  and  Wagons.      From  Connecti 
cut  Journal,  July  3,  1815       .          .          .          .   facing  368 
A  Wet   Start    at   Daybreak.      From  a  painting  by  Edward 

Lamson  Henry,  N.A.  .          .          .          .  facing  370 

The  Wayside  Inn,  Sudbury,  Mass.  .          .          .  facing  372 

Sign-board,  Perkins  Inn,  Hopkinton,  N.  H.      Owned  by  Mr. 

E.  R.  Guerin,  Hopkinton,  N.  H.  .  .  .  .375 
Russel  Tavern,  Arlington,  Mass.  .  .  .  .  •  379 
Sign-board  of  Gifford's  Tavern,  Barrington,  R.  I.  Owned 

by  Mrs.  Gifford,  Bristol,  R.I 381 

Sign-board  of  Wells   Tavern,   Greenfield   Meadows,    Mass. 

Owned  by  Pocumtuck  Valley  Historical  Association      .      382 
Mattapan  Tavern,  Relay  House      .  .          .          .          .389 

Wilde  Tavern,  Milton,  Mass.,  1770       .  .          .  391 

Ashburnham  Thief  Detecting  Society.      Handbill  Heading    .      393 
Sign-board   of  Humphrey    Williams    Tavern,    Centrebrook, 
Conn.      Owned   by    Mr.    George   F.    Ives,    Danbury, 
Conn.          ........      396 

Sign-board,  Reverse,  of  Humphrey  Williams  Tavern,  Centre- 
brook,  Conn.      Owned  by  Mr.  George  F.  Ives,  Dan- 
bury,  Conn.         .......      400 

Poor  Tavern  and  Sign-board,  Newburyport,  Mass.      .          .405 
Monroe  Tavern,  Lexington,  Mass.  .          .          .  facing  406 

Sign-board,  Dewey  Tavern    .  .          .          .          .          .411 

Sign-board,   Cutter's  Tavern,  JafFray,  N.  H.       Owned    by 

Mrs.  Anna  Cutter  Roberts,  Roxbury,  Mass.        .  .412 


XV1  List  of  Illustrations 

Banjo  Clock,  with  Painting  of  Pahquoique  House  on  Glass 
Door.  Owned  by  Mr.  George  F.  Ives,  Danbury, 
Conn. 

Wright  Tavern,  Concord,  Mass.     . 

Sign-board  of  Moses  Hill's  Inn,  Douglas,  Mass!  4,9 

Sign-board  of  John  Nash's  Tavern,  Amherst,  Mass.  '  From 
History  of  Amherst 

Montague  City  Tavern 

Old  Abbey,  Bloomingdale  Road,  New  York     .  428 

After    the    Shower.        From    painting    by    Edward    Lamson 

Henrv,  N.A.  f    . 

'  ...  facing  430 

Tavern  Pitcher,  Apotheosis  of  Washington.      Liverpool  Ware     430 
Sign-board  of  Grosvenor  Inn,  Pomfret,  Conn.    .  4~2 

The  Parting  of  the  Ways,  Dublin,  N.  H.  .  '    fac~ng  ^ 


Stage-coach   and   Tavern    Days 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern    Days 


CHAPTER    I 

THE    PURITAN    ORDINARY 

IN  reverent  and  affectionate  retrospective  view 
of  the  influences  and  conditions  which  had 
power  and  made  mark  upon  the  settlement  of 
New  England,  we  are  apt  to  affirm  with  earnest 
sentiment  that  religion  was  the  one  force,  the  one 
aim,  the  one  thought,  of  the  lives  of  our  forbears. 
It  was  indeed  an  ever  present  thought  and  influence 
in  their  lives ;  but  they  possessed  another  trait 
which  is  as  evident  in  their  records  as  their  piety, 
and  which  adds  an  element  of  human  interest  to 
their  story  which  their  stern  Puritanism  never  could 
have  done  ;  with  them  their  neighborliness  was  as 
ever  present  and  as  sincere  as  their  godliness. 
Hence  the  establishment  of  an  hostelry,  —  an  ordi 
nary  it  was  usually  called,  —  for  the  entertainment  of 
travellers  and  for  the  mutual  comfort  of  the  set 
tlers,  was  scarcely  second  to  their  providing  a  gath 
ering-place  for  the  church. 

The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  at  an  early 
date  took  decisive  measures  with  regard  to  houses 
of  common  entertainment.  No  one  was  permitted 


2  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

to  keep  without  license  "  a  common  victuallyng 
house,"  under  a  penalty  of  twenty  shillings  a  wreek. 
Soon  the  power  of  granting  licenses  was  transferred 
to  the  County  Courts,  as  the  constant  increase  in 
the  number  of  ordinaries  made  too  constant  detailed 
work  for  so  important  a  body  as  the  General  Court. 

Consideration  for  the  welfare  of  travellers,  and  a 
desire  to  regulate  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
seemed  to  the  magistrates  important  enough  reasons 
not  only  to  counsel  but  to  enforce  the  opening  of 
some  kind  of  a  public  house  in  each  community, 
and  in  1656  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
made  towns  liable  to  a  fine  for  not  sustaining  an 
ordinary.  Towns  were  fined  and  admonished  for 
not  conforming  to  this  law;  Concord,  Massachu 
setts,  was  one  of  the  number.  The  Colonial  Rec 
ords  of  Connecticut,  in  1644,  ordered  "one  sufficient 
inhabitant"  in  each  town  to  keep  an  ordinary,  since 
"strangers  were  straitened"  for  want  of  entertain 
ment.  A  frequent  and  natural  choice  of  location 
for  establishing  an  ordinary  was  at  a  ferry.  Tris 
tram  Coffyn  kept  both  ferry  and  ordinary  at  New- 
bury,  Massachusetts ;  there  was  an  ordinary  at 
Beverly  Ferry,  known  until  1819  as  the  "Old 
Ferry  Tavern." 

Great  inducements  were  offered  to  persons  to 
keep  an  ordinary ;  sometimes  land  was  granted 
them,  or  pasturage  for  their  cattle,  or  exemption 
from  church  rates  and  school  taxes.  In  1682, 
Hugh  March,  of  Newbury,  Massachusetts,  peti 
tioned  for  a  renewal  of  his  license  to  keep  an  ordi 
nary,  saying  thus :  "  The  town  of  Newbury,  some 


The   Puritan   Ordinary 


Ordinary  at  Duxbury,  Massachusetts. 

years  since,  were  destitute  of  an  ordinary,  and  could 
not  persuade  any  person  to  keep  it.  For  want  of 
an  ordinary  they  were  twice  fined  by  the  county, 
and  would  have  been  a  third  time  had  I  not  under 
taken  it."  In  1668  the  town  had  persuaded  one 
Captain  White  to  "undertake  an  ordinary"  on 
high  moral  grounds ;  and  it  is  painful  to  record 
that,  though  he  did  so  unwillingly,  he  found  the 
occupation  so  profitable  that  he  finally  got  into  dis 
grace  through  it. 

The  early  taverns  were  not  opened  wholly  for 
the  convenience  of  travellers ;  they  were  for  the 
comfort  of  the  townspeople,  for  the  interchange 
of  news  and  opinions,  the  sale  of  solacing  liquors, 
and  the  incidental  sociability  ;  in  fact,  the  impor 
tance  of  the  tavern  to  its  local  neighbors  was  far 
greater  than  to  travellers.  There  were  many  re 
strictions  upon  the  entertainment  of  unknown 
strangers.  The  landlord  had  to  give  the  name 


4  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

of  all  such  strangers  to  the  selectmen,  who  could, 
if  they  deemed  them  detrimental  or  likely  to  be 
come  a  charge  upon  the  community,  warn  them 
out  of  the  town.  The  old  town  records  are  full 
of  such  warnings,  some  of  them  most  amusing. 
Nor  could  the  landlord  "  knowingly  harbor  in 
house,  barn,  or  stable,  any  rogues,  vagabonds, 
thieves,  sturdy  beggars,  masterless  men  or  women." 
Our  ancestors  were  kindly  neighbors  to  godly  folk, 
but  sternly  intolerant  of  wrong-doers,  or  even  of 
those  suspected  of  wrong. 

We  cannot  wondw*-that  citizens  did  not  seek  to 
become  ordinary-keepers  *wben  we  learn  how  they 
were  hampered,  or  how  the  magistrates  trieH  to 
hamper  them.  They  were  at  one  time  not  to  be 
permitted  to  sell  "sack  or  strong  waters,"  nor  have 
any  dancing  or  singing  within  their  walls.  No 
games  could  be  played  in  their  precincts.  They 
were  even  hindered  in  the  selling  of  cakes  and  buns. 
Innholders  and  victuallers  were  prohibited  the 
brewing  of  beer,  but  that  soon  had  to  be  revoked. 
The  price  and  quality  of  beer  was  constantly  being 
established  by  law  and  as  constantly  changed.  In 
1634  the  Court  set  the  price  of  a  single  meal  at  six 
pence,  and  not  above  a  penny  for  an  ale-quart  of 
beer  out  of  meal  time.  Then,  a  little  later,  the 
landlords  were  forbidden  to  change  more  than  twelve 
pence  for  a  meal ;  and  they  were  ordered  to  fur 
nish  meals  to  "  pore  people,"  as  simply  as  called  for. 

One  Richard  Cluffe,  in  an  utterance  which 
sounds  like  the  voice  of  Shakespeare's  clown,  ex 
claimed  at  a  mean  meal  served  to  him,  "  What !  shall 


The  Puritan  Ordinary  5 

I  pay  twelve  pence  for  the  fragments  which  the 
grand  jury  roages  have  left  ?  '  The  majesty  of  the 
law  could  not  thus  be  attacked  in  Massachusetts  in 
the  year  1640.  Three  pounds  six  shillings  and  eight 
pence  did  Cluffe  pay  for  his  rash  and  angry  words  — 
truly  a  costly  dinner. 

The  ordinary  called  The  Anchor,  at  Lynn, 
was  kept  by  one  Joseph  Armitage.  Being  a  half 
way  house  between  Boston  and  Salem,  the  magistrates 
made  it  their  stopping-place  on  their  various  trips 
from  court  to  court.  The  accounts  of  this  ordinary 
are  still  preserved.  Governor  Endicott's  bills  for 
"vitals,  beare,  and  logen,"  for  "  bear  and  caeks," 
were  paid  by  the  Auditor.  Governor  Bradstreet 
had  "  beare  and  wyne."  The  succeeding  landlord 
of  this  ordinary  was  described  by  John  Dunton  in 
1686  as  a  hearty,  talkative,  fine  old  gentleman, 
one  of  Oliver  Cromwell's  soldiers.  Dunton  had 
at  The  Anchor  a  good  fowl  and  a  bottle  of  sack, 
instead  of  the  beer  and  cakes  of  the  abstemious 
Puritan  governor. 

The  "Sports  of  the  Innyard"  were  sternly 
frowned  upon  by  Puritan  magistrates.  Among 
the  games  which  were  named  as  forbidden  in  the 
ordinaries  were  "  carding,"  dicing,  tally,  bowls,  bill 
iards,  slidegroat,  shuffle-board,  quoits,  loggets,  nine 
pins.  After  a  time  shuffle-board  and  bowls  were 
tolerated  in  private  houses,  though  not  deemed  repu 
table  at  the  ordinary. 

The  Puritan  ordinary  saw  some  wedding  scenes, 
and  apparently  some  tentatively  gay  scenes,  since 
in  1631  the  magistrates  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in 


6  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

"  consequence  of  some  miscarriages  at  weddings  " 
which  had  been  held  in  an  ordinary,  passed  a  law 
prohibiting  dancing  on  such  occasions  in  public 
houses. 

Lord  Ley  lodged  at  the  Boston  ordinary  in  1637  ; 
and  when  Governor  Winthrop  urged  him  to  come 
to  his  home  from  the  inn,  his  lordship  declined, 
saying  that  the  house  where  he  was  staying  was 
so  well  ordered  that  he  could  be  as  private  there  as 
elsewhere. 

In  the  towns  a  night-watch  was  soon  instituted, 
and  the  instructions  given  by  the  Boston  magistrates 
smack  strongly  of  Dogberry's  famous  charge. 
Their  number  each  night  was  eight ;  they  were  "  to 
walk  two  by  two  together,  a  youth  joined  to  an  older 
and  more  sober  person."  Lights  had  to  be  out, —  or 
hidden,  —  especially  in  the  ordinaries.  "If  they  see 
lights,  to  inquire  if  there  be  warrantable  cause  ;  and 
if  they  hear  any  noise  or  disorder,  wisely  to  demand 
the  reason  ;  if  they  are  dancing  and  singing  vainly, 
to  admonish  them  to  cease ;  if  they  do  not  dis 
continue  after  moderate  admonition,  then  the  con 
stable  to  take  their  names  and  acquaint  the 
authorities  therewith.  If  they  find  young  men  and 
maidens,  not  of  known  fidelity,  walking  after  ten 
o'clock,  modestly  to  demand  the  cause,  and  if  they 
appear  ill-minded,  to  watch  them  narrowly,  command 
them  to  go  to  their  lodgings,  and  if  they  refuse 
then  to  secure  them  till  morning."  In  1663  josselyn 
found  that  young  sparks  walking  with  their  sweet 
hearts,  or  "  Marmalet-Madams  "  as  he  called  them, 
had  to  go  home  at  nine  o'clock. 


The   Puritan   Ordinary  7 

Constant  and  strenuous  efforts  were  made  from 
earliest  days  to  prevent  drunkenness  and  all  tavern 
disorders.  As  early  as  1637  complaints  had  been 
made  that  "  much  drunkenness,  waste  of  the  good 
creatures  of  God,  mispense  of  time,  and  other  dis 
orders  "  had  taken  place  at  the  ordinaries.  Fre 
quent  laws  were  made  about  selling  liquor  to  the 
"devilish  bloudy  salvages,"  and  many  were  the 
arrests  and  fines  and  punishments  therefor. 


Taproom  Furnishings  of  an  Old  Ordinary. 

Landlords  were  forbidden  by  the  Court  in  1645 
"  to  surfer  anyone  to  be  drunk  or  drink  excessively, 
or  continue  tippling  above  the  space  of  half  an  hour 
in  any  of  their  said  houses  under  penalty  of  $s.  for 
every  such  offence  suffered ;  and  every  person 
found  drunk  in  the  said  houses  or  elsewhere  shall 
forfeit  IQS.  ;  and  for  every  excessive  drinking  he 
shall  forfeit  3*.  4^.;  for  sitting  idle  and  continuing 
drinking  above  half  an  hour,  is.  6d.  ;  and  it  is  de 
clared  to  be  excessive  drinking  of  wine  when  above 


8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

half  a  pint  of  wine  is  allowed  at  one  time  to  one 
person  to  drink  :  provided  that  it  shall  be  lawful 
for  any  strangers,  or  lodgers,  or  any  person  or  per 
sons,  in  an  orderly  way  to  continue  in  such  houses- 
of  common  entertainment  during  meal  times  or  upon 
lawful  business,  what  time  their  occasions  shall 
require." 

Drunkards  were  severely  punished  by  being  thrust 
into  the  bilboes,  set  in  the  stocks,  and  whipped.  In 
1632  one  "James  Woodward  shalbe  sett  in  the  bil- 
bowes  for  being  drunke  at  New-Towne."  Robert 
Wright  was  fined  twenty  shillings  and  ordered  to 
sit  in  the  stocks  an  hour  for  being  "  twice  dis 
tempered  in  drink."  On  September  3,  1633,  in 
Boston  :  — 

"  Robert  Coles  was  fyned  ten  shillings  and  enjoy nd  .to 
stand  with  a  white  sheet  of  paper  on  his  back,  whereon 
Drunkard  shalbe  written  in  great  Ires,  and  to  stand  there 
with  soe  long  as  the  Court  find  meet,  for  abusing  himself 
shamefully  with  drinke." 

This  did  not  reform  Robert  Coles,  for  a  year 
later  his  badge  of  disgrace  was  made  permanent :  — 

"Robert  Coles  for  drunkenness  by  him  committed  at 
Rocksbury  shalbe  disfranchizd,  weare  about  his  neck,  and 
so  to  hang  upon  his  outwd  garment  a  D.  made  of  redd 
cloth  &  sett  upon  white  :  to  continyu  this  for  a  yeare,  & 
not  to  have  it  ofF  any  time  hee  comes  among  company, 
Vnder  the  penalty  of  xl  s.  for  the  first  offence,  and  5  £ 
for  the  second,  and  afterward  to  be  punished  by  the 
Court  as  they  think  meet :  also  bee  is  to  wear  the  D  out 
wards." 


The  Puritan   Ordinary  9 

It  might  be  inferred  from  the  clause  I  have  itali 
cized  that  the  Puritan  drunkard  was  not  without 
guile,  and  that  some  had  worn  the  scarlet  letter  and 
hidden  it  from  public  view  as  skilfully  as  the  moral 
brand  is  often  hidden  from  public  knowledge  to-day. 
Women,  also,  were  punished  severely  for  "  intem 
perate  drinking  from  one  ordinary  to  another,"  but 
such  examples  were  rare. 

Lists  of  names  of  common  drunkards  were  given 
to  landlords  in  some  towns  (among  them  New  Cas 
tle,  New  Hampshire),  and  landlords  were  warned 
riot  to  sell  liquor  to  them.  Licenses  were  removed 
and  fines  imposed  on  those  who  did  not  heed  the 
warning. 

The  tithing-man,  that  amusing  but  most  bump 
tious  public  functionary  of  colonial  times,  was  at 
first  the  official  appointed  to  spy  specially  upon  the 
ordinaries.  He  inspected  these  houses,  made  com 
plaint  of  any  disorders  he  discovered,  and  gave  in 
to  the  constable  the  names  of  idle  drinkers  and 
gamers.  He  warned  the  keepers  of  public  houses 
to  sell  no  more  liquor  to  any  whom  he  fancied  had 
been  tippling  too  freely.  John  Josselyn,  an  Eng 
lish  visitor  in  Boston  in  1663,  complained  bitterly 
thus : — 

"  At  houses  of  entertainment  into  which  a  stranger  went, 
he  was  presently  followed  by  one  appointed  to  that  office, 
who  would  thrust  himself  into  the  company  uninvited,  and 
if  he  called  for  more  drink  than  the  officer  thought  in  his 
judgement  he  could  soberly  bear  away,  he  would  presently 
countermand  it,  and  appoint  the  proportion,  beyond  which 
he  could  not  get  one  drop." 


10 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


Old  Tavern  at  Easton,  Massachusetts. 

Now  that  certainly  was  trying.  Nor  could  it  have 
been  agreeable  to  would-be  cheerful  frequenters  of 
Greyhound  Tavern,  in  Roxbury,  to  have  godly  Par 
son  Danforth,  when  he  saw  from  his  study  win 
dows  any  neighbors  or  strangers  lingering  within 
the  tavern  doors,  come  sallying  forth  from  his 
house  across  the  way,  and  walk  sternly  into  their 
company,  and,  as  he  said,  "chide  them  away." 
Patient  must  have  been  the  Greyhound's  landlord 
to  have  stood  such  pious  meddling  and  hindrance 
to  trade. 

Governor  Winthrop  gives  an  account  of  the  ex 
ploits  of  a  Boston  constable  in  1644,  which  shows 
the  restraint  held  over  a  lodger  in  a  Boston  ordi 
nary  at  that  date. 

"There  fell  out  a  troublesome  business  in  Boston.  An 
English  sailor  happened  to  be  drunk  and  was  carried  to 


The  Puritan  Ordinary  13 

were  fined,  and  set  in  the  stocks,  and  in  cages. 
Until  within  a  few  years  there  were  New  England 
towns  where  tobacco-smoking  was  prohibited  on 
the  streets,  and  innocent  cigar-loving  travellers 
were  astounded  at  being  requested  to  cease  smok 
ing.  Mr.  Drake  wrote  in  1886  that  he  knew  men, 
then  living,  who  had  had  to  plead  guilty  or  not 
guilty  in  a  Boston  police  court  for  smoking  in  the 
streets  of  Boston.  In  Connecticut  in  early  days 
a  great  indulgence  was  permitted  to  travellers  —  a 
man  could  smoke  once  during  a  journey  of  ten  miles. 

The  relationship  of  tavern  and  meeting-house  in 
New  England  did  not  end  with  their  simultaneous 
establishment ;  they  continued  the  most  friendly 
neighbors.  And  so  long  as  a  public  house  was 
commonly  known  as  an  ordinary,  those  who  were 
high  in  church  counsels  looked  sharply  to  the 
control  of  these  houses  of  sojourn.  The  minister 
and  tithing-man  were  aided  in  their  spying  and  their 
chiding  by  deacons,  elders,  and  church  members. 

Usually  the  ordinary  and  the  meeting-house  were 
close  companions.  Licenses  to  keep  houses  of  en 
tertainment  were  granted  with  the  condition  that 
the  tavern  must  be  near  the  meeting-house  —  a  keen 
contrast  to  our  present  laws  prohibiting  the  sale  of 
liquor  within  a  certain  distance  of  any  church.  A 
Boston  ordinary-keeper,  in  1651,  was  granted  per 
mission  to  keep  a  house  of  common  entertainment 
"  provided  hee  keepe  it  neare  the  new  meeting 
house." 

Those  who  know  of  the  old-time  meeting-house 
can  fully  comprehend  the  desire  of  the  colonists  to 


14  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

have  a  tavern  near  at  hand,  especially  during  the 
winter  services.  Through  autumn  rains,  and  winter 
frosts  and  snows,  and  fierce  northwesters,  the  poorly- 
built  meeting-house  stood  unheated,  growing  more 
damp,  more  icy,  more  deadly,  with  each  succeeding 
week.  Women  cowered,  shivering,  half-frozen,  over 
the  feeble  heat  of  a  metal  foot-stove  as  the  long  ser 
mon  dragged  on  and  the  few  coals  became  ashes. 

Men  stamped  their 
feet  and  swung  their 
arms  in  the  vain  at 
tempt  to  warm  the 
blood.  Gladly  and 
eagerly  did  all  troop 
from  the  gloomy 
meeting-house  to  the 
cheerful  tavern  to 
thaw  out  before  the 
afternoon  service,  and 
to  warm  up  before 
the  ride  or  walk  home 
in  the  late  afternoon. 
It  was  a  scandal  in 

many  a  town  that  godly  church-members  partook 
too  freely  of  tavern  cheer  at  the  nooning ;  the  only 
wonder  is  that  the  entire  congregation  did  not  suc 
cumb  in  a  body  to  the  potent  flip  and  toddy  of  the 
tavern-keeper. 

In  midsummer  the  hot  sun  beat  down  on  the 
meeting-house  roof,  and  the  burning  rays  poured 
in  the  unshaded  windows.  The  taproom  of  the 
tavern  and  the  green  trees  in  its  dooryard  offered 


The   Puritan   Ordinary  15 

a  pleasant  shade  to  tired  church-goers,  and  its  well- 
sweep  afforded  a  grateful  drink  to  those  who  turned 
not  to  the  taproom. 

There  are  ever  backsliders  in  all  church  com 
munities  ;  many  walked  into  the  ordinary  door  in 
stead  of  up  the  church  "  alley."  The  chimney  seat 
of  the  inn  was  more  comfortable  than  the  narrow 
seat  of  the  "  pue."  The  General  Court  of  Massachu 
setts  passed  a  law  requiring  all  innkeepers  within 
a  mile  of  any  meeting-house,  to  clear  their  houses 
"  during  the  hours  of  the  exercise."  "  Thus,"  Mr. 
Field  says  wittily,  "  the  townsmen  were  frozen  out 
of  the  tavern  to  be  frozen  in  the  meeting-house." 

Our  ancestors  had  no  reverence  for  a  church  save 
as  a  literal  meeting-house,  and  it  was  not  unusual  to 
transform  the  house  of  God  into  a  tavern.  The 
Great  House  at  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  the 
official  residence  of  Governor  Winthrop,  became  a 
meeting-house  in  1633,  and  then  a  tavern,  the 
Three  Cranes,  kept  by  Robert  Leary  and  his  de 
scendants  for  many  years.  It  was  destroyed  in  June, 
1775,  in  the  burning  of  the  town.  In  this  Great 
House,  destined  to  become  a  tavern,  lived  Governor 
Winthrop  when  he  announced  his  famous  discoun 
tenance  of  health-drinking  at  the  tables  and  in  pub 
lic  places.  This  first  of  all  temperance  pledges  in 
New  England  is  recorded  in  his  Diary  in  his  own 
language,  which  was  as  temperate  as  his  intent :  — 

u  The  Governor,  upon  consideration  of  the  inconven 
iences  which  had  grown  in  England  by  drinking  one  to 
another,  restrained  it  at  his  own  table,  and  wished  others 
to  do  the  like ;  so  it  grew,  little  by  little,  into  disuse." 


i6 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


Frequently  religious  services  were  held  in  the 
spacious  rooms  of  the  tavern,  until  a  meeting-house 
was  built ;  as  in  the  town  of  Fitchburg,  Massachu 
setts,  and  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  where  Roger 

Williams  preached. 
Many  of  the  Puri 
tan  ordinaries  were 
thus  used. 

Ecclesiastical  af 
fairs  were  managed 
at  the  ordinary, 
among  them  that 
most  ticklish  and 
difficult  of  all  ad 
justments  and  allot- 
ments,  namely, 
seating  the  meeting. 
The  "  Elders,  Dea- 


BlLL  FROM 
j\EEPER,FOR 
A&AINST  THE  EAST  (jHURCH,SALEt1  IN  Ij6j 
FOR  THE  USE  OF  ITS  PARISH  GotlhlTTEL 


cons,  and  Select 
men "  of  Cambridge  were  made  a  "constant  and 
settled  power  for  regulating  the  seating  of  persons 
in  the  meeting-house."  They  were  ordered  to  meet 
at  the  ordinary,  and  such  orders  and  appointments 
as  this  were  made  :  — 

"  Brother  Richard  Jackson's  wife  to  sit  where  Sister 
Kempster  was  wont  to  sit.  Ester  Sparhawke  to  sit  in  the 
place  where  Mrs.  Upham  is  removed  from.  Mr.  Day  to 
sit  the  second  seat  from  the  table.  Ensign  Samuel  Greene 
to  sit  at  the  Table.  Goody  Gates  to  sit  at  the  end  of  the 
Deacon's  seat.  Goody  Wines  to  sit  in  the  Gallery." 

It  needed  much  consultation  and  thought  to  "  seat 
the  meeting."  We  can  imagine  the  deacons  loosen- 


The  Puritan  Ordinary  17 

ing  their  tongues  over  the  tavern  flip  and  punch,  and 
arguing  confidentially  over  the  standing,  the  wealth, 
and  temper  of  the  various  parties  to  be  seated. 

There  were  in  Boston  at  different  times  several 
ordinaries  and  taverns  known  as  the  King's  Arms. 
One  of  the  earliest  ones  stood  at  the  head  of  Dock 
Square.  In  1651  one  Hugh  Gunnison,  vintner,  and 
his  wife,  sold  this  house,  known  by  the  sign  of  the 
King's  Arms,  with  its  furniture  and  appurtenances, 
for  the  sum  of  ^600  sterling,  a  goodly  sum  for  the 
day.  An  inventory  of  the  "  p'ticular  goods  and 
household  stuffe  "  still  exists,  and  is  of  much  interest 
not  only  as  indicating  the  furnishings  of  a  house  of 
that  character  in  that  colony  at  that  date,  but  show 
ing  also  the  naming  of  the  chambers,  as  in  the  Eng 
lish  inns  of  Shakespeare's  day. 

"  In  the  chamber  called  the  Exchange  one  halfe  bedstead 

with  blew   pillows,  one    livery   Cupbord    coloured  blue, 

one    long   table,  benches,  two   formes  and  one   carved 

chaire. 

u  In  the  Kitchen  three  formes  dressers  shelves. 
u  In    the    Larder  one  square   Table    banisters    dressers    & 

shelves  round. 
"  In  the  Hall,  three  Small  Roomes  with  tables  and  benches 

in  them,  one  table  about  six  foote  long  in  the  Hall  and 

one  bench. 
"  In   the  low   parlor    one  bedstead    one   table  and  benches 

two  formes,  one  small  frame  of  a  form  and  shelves,  one 

Closet  with  shelves. 

"  In  the  room  Vnder  the  closet  one  child's  bedsted. 
u  In  the  Chamber  called  London,  one  bedsted  two  benches. 
"  In  the   Chamber  over  London    one  bedsted   one  crosse 

table  one  forme  one  bench, 


1 8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

"  In  the  Closet  next  the  Exchange,  shelves. 

"  In  the  barr  by  the  hall,  three  shelves,  the  frame  of  a  low 

stoole. 
"In  the  vpper  p'lor  one  bedsted  two  chaires   one  table  one 

forme  bench  and  shelves. 

"  In  the  Nursery  one  Crosse  Table  with  shelvs. 
"In  the  Court  Chamber  one  Long  table  three  formes  one 

livery  cupbord,  &  benches. 
"  In  the  closet  within  the  Court  chamber  one  bedsted  and 

shelvs. 

"In  the  Starr  chamber  one  long  table,  one  bedsted,  one  liv 
ery  Cupbord  one  chaire  three  formes  with  benches. 
"In  the  Garret  over  the  Court   chamber  one  bedsted  one 

table  two  formes. 
"  In  the  garret  over  the  closet  in  the  Court  chamber  one 

bedsted  one  smale  forme. 
"  In  the  foure  garrett  chambers  over  the  Starr  chamber  three 

bedsteds  four  tables  with  benches. 
"In  the  brewhouse  one  Cop',  twoe  fatts,  one  vnder  back, 

one  vpper  back,  one  kneading  trough  one  dresser    one 

brake. 

"  In  the  stable  one  Racke  &  manger. 
"  In  the  yarde  one  pumpe,  pipes  to  convey  the  water  to  the 

brew  house,  fyve  hogg  styes,  one  house  of  office. 
"The  signes  of  the  Kinges  Armes  and  signe  posts." 

This  was  certainly  a  large  house  and  amply  fur 
nished.  It  contained  thirteen  bedsteads  and  a  vast 
number  of  tables,  forms,  benches,  shelves,  and 
cupboards. 

The  rooms  of  the  Blue  Anchor,  another  Boston 
ordinary,  also  bore  names  :  the  Rose  and  Sun  Low 
room,  the  Cross  Keys,  the  Green  Dragon,  the 
Anchor  and  Castle. 


The  Puritan  Ordinary  19 

We  can  form,  from  the  items  of  this  inventory,  a 
very  good  and  detailed  picture  of  the  interior  of  a  Bos 
ton  ordinary  at  that  date.  But  it  must  not  be  imagined 
that  there  were  at  the  time  of  this  sale  many  colonial 
ordinaries  as  amply  furnished  as  the  King's  Arms. 
The  accommodations  in  the  public  houses  of  small 
towns,  indeed  perhaps  everywhere  in  New  England 


Taproom  of  Wayside  Inn. 

save  in  Boston  and  Salem,  were  very  primitive.  The 
ordinary  was  doubtless  as  well  furnished  as  the  private 
homes  of  its  neighbors,  and  that  was  very  simple  of 
fashion,  while  the  fare  was  scant  of  variety. 

We  know  that  even  the  early  ordinaries  had  sign 
boards. 

The  ordinary-keeper  had  his  license  granted  with 
the  proviso  that  "  there  be  sett  up  some  inoffensive 


2O  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

sign  obvious  for  direction  to  strangers  "  —  this  in 
Salem  in  1645.  ^n  l&55  tne  Rhode  Island  courts 
ordered  that  all  persons  appointed  -to  keep  an  ordi 
nary  should  "cause  to  be  sett  out  a  convenient  Signe 
at  ye  most  perspicuous  place  of  ye  said  house,  thereby 
to  give  notice  to  strangers  yt  it  is  a  house  of  public 
entertainment,  and  this  to  be  done  with  all  conven 
ient  speed.'* 

Women  kept  ordinaries  and  taverns  from  early 
days.  Widows  abounded,  for  the  life  of  the  male 
colonists  was  hard,  exposure  was  great,  and  many 
died  in  middle  age.  War  also  had  many  victims. 
Tavern-keeping  was  the  resort  of  widows  of  small 
means  then,  just  as  the  "  taking  of  boarders  "  is  to-day. 
Women  were  skilled  in  business  affairs  and  compe 
tent  ;  many  licenses  were  granted  to  them  to  keep 
victualling-houses,  to  draw  wine,  and  make  and  sell 
beer.  In  1684  the  wife  of  one  Nicholas  Howard 
was  licensed  "  to  entertain  Lodgers  in  the  absence  of 
her  husband";  while  other  women  were  permitted  to 
sell  food  and  drink  but  could  not  entertain  lodgers 
because  their  husbands  were  absent  from  home,  thus 
drawing  nice  distinctions.  A  Salem  dame  in  1645 
could  keep  an  ordinary  if  she  provided  a  "  godly 
man  "  to  manage  her  business.  Some  women  be 
came  renowned  as  good  innkeepers,  and  they  were 
everywhere  encouraged  in  the  calling. 

The  colonists  did  not  have  to  complain  long,  nor 
to  pine  long  for  lack  of  ordinaries.  In  1675  Cotton 
Mather  said  every  other  house  in  Boston  was  an  ale 
house. 

One  of  the  first  serious  protests  against  the  increase 


The  Puritan  Ordinary  21 

of  ordinaries  and  ale-houses  in  the  colonies,  and 
appreciation  of  their  pernicious  effects,  came  from 
Nathaniel  Saltonstall  of  Haverhill,  Massachusetts. 
He  was  a  magistrate,  and  an  officer  in  the  militia. 
He  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  in  the  Salem 
witchcraft  trials  ;  but  in  this  latter  capacity  he  refused 
to  serve,  which  may  be  taken  as  a  proof  of  his  ad 
vanced  thought.  He  was  said  to  be  "  a  man  of 
superior  powers  of  mind  and  rare  talents."  In 
December,  1696,  he  sent  a  letter  to  the  Salem  Court 
which  ran  thus  :  — 

"MucH  HON'D  GENTLEMEN: 

"  I  allways  thought  it  great  prudence  and  Christianity  in 
our  former  leaders  and  rulers,  by  their  laws  to  state  the 
number  of  publique  houses  in  towns  and  for  regulation  of 
such  houses,  as  were  of  necessity,  thereby  to  prevent  all 
sorts,  almost,  of  wickednesses  which  daily  grow  in  upon  us  like 
a  flood.  But  alas  !  I  see  not  but  that  now  the  case  is  over, 
and  such  (as  to  some  places  I  may  term  them)  pest-houses 
and  places  of  enticement  (tho  not  so  intended  by  the  Jus 
tices)  the  sin  are  multiplied.  It  is  multiplied  too  openly, 
that  the  cause  of  it  may  be,  the  price  of  retailers'  fees,  etc. 
I  pray  what  need  of  six  retailers  in  Salisbury,  and  of  more 
than  one  in  Haverhill,  and  some  other  towns  where  the 
people,  when  taxes  and  rates  for  the  country  and  ministers 
are  collecting,  with  open  mouths  complain  of  povertie  and 
being  hardly  dealt  with,  and  yet  I  am  fully  informed,  can 
spend  much  time,  and  spend  their  estates  at  such  blind  holes, 
as  are  clandestinely  and  unjustly  petitioned  for;  and  more 
threaten  to  get  licenses,  chiefly  by  repairing  to  a  remote 
court,  where  they  are  not  known  or  suspected,  but  pass 
for  current,  and  thereby  the  towns  are  abused,  and  the 
youth  get  evil  habits ;  and  men  sent  out  on  country  service 


22  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

at  such  places  waste  much  of  their  time,  yet  expect  pay 
for  it,  in  most  pernicious  loytering  and  what,  and  some 
times  by  foolish  if  not  pot-valiant  firing  and  shooting  off 
guns,  not  for  the  destruction  of  enemies,  but  to  the  won 
derful  disturbance  and  affrightment  of  the  inhabitants,  which 
is  not  the  service  a  scout  is  allowed  and  maintained  for. 

"  Please  to  see  what  good  is  done  by  giving  a  license 
to  Robert  Hastings,  in  such  a  by-place  about  three  miles 
from  the  publique  house  in  town.  The  man  himself  I 
am  sure  has  no  cause,  nor  do  I  believe  the  town  and  trav 
ellers  if  they  are  sober  men,  will  ever  give  the  court  thanks 
for  the  first  grant  to  him,  or  the  further  renewal  thereof. 

"  But  now  the  bravado  is  made,  what  is  done  is  not  enough  ; 
we  must  have  a  third  tippling  house  at  Peter  Patey's  about 
midway  between  the  other  two,  which  they  boast  as  cock 
sure  of,  and  have  it  is  thought  laid  in,  for  this  very  end, 
an  unaccountable  store  of  cyder,  rum,  molasses,  and  what 
not.  It  is  well  if  this  stock  be  not  now  spent  on,  in  pro 
curing  subscriptions  for  to  obtain  the  villain's  license, 
which  I  fear,  knowing  the  man,  we  may  be  bold  to  say, 
wickedness  will  be  practiced  and  without  control.  ...  I 
have  done  my  part  in  court,  as  to  what  I  heard  of,  to  pre 
vent  such  confiding  licenses  to  persons  unknown.  .  .  . 

"  I  am  now  God's  prisoner  and  cant  come  abroad,  and 
have  waited  long  to  speak  of  those,  and  others,  but  as 
yet  cant  meet  with  an  opportunity.  You  have  nothing 
here  of  personal  animosity  of  mine  against  any  man,  but 
zeal  and  faithfulness  to  my  country  and  town,  and  to  the 
young  and  rising  generation  that  they  be  not  too  much  at 
liberty  to  live  and  do  as  they  list.  Accept  of  the  good  in 
tentions  of,  gentlemen,  your  humble  servant, 

"  N.  SALTONSTALL." 

There  is  a  sturdy  ring  about  this  letter,  a  freedom 
from  cant  and  conventional  religious  expressions, 


The  Puritan  Ordinary  23 

that  serve  to  paint  clearly  the  character  of  the 
writer,  and  show  us  by  one  of  those  side-glimpses, 
which,  as  Ruskin  says,  often  afford  more  light  than 
a  full  stare,  the  sort  of  man  that  built  up  New 
England  in  the  beginning,  on  its  solid  and  noble 
foundations. 

In  spite  of  the  forebodings  of  Saltonstall  and 
other  Christian  gentlemen,  the  flood  of  wickedness 
and  disorder  which  he  predicted  was  slow  in  its 
approach.  The  orderly  ways  and  close  restrictions 


Buckman  Tavern,  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  1690. 

and  surveillance  of  the  Puritan  ordinary  lasted  until 
long  after  public  houses  were  called  taverns. 

In  the  latter  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century  and 
the  first  of  the  eighteenth  a  nearly  continual  diary  was 
kept  by  a  resident  of  Boston,  Judge  Samuel  Sewall, 


24  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

who  might  be  called  Boston's  first  citizen.  He  was 
rich,  he  was  good,  he  was  intelligent,  and  some  por 
tions  of  his  diary  are  of  great  value  for  the  light  they 
throw  on  contemporary  customs  and  events.  He  has 
been  called  a  Puritan  Pepys;  but  in  one  respect  he  is 
markedly  unlike  Pepys,  who  gave  us  ample  record 
of  London  taverns,  and  of  tavern  life  in  his  day.  It 
is  doubtful  that  Sewall  knew  much  about  tavern  life 
in  Boston  ;  for  his  private  life  was  a  great  contrast  to 
that  of  our  gay  Pepys.  Judge  Sewall  was  a  home 
body,  tenderly  careful  of  his  children  —  he  had  four 
teen  ;  a  "  loving  servant  "  to  his  wives  —  he  had 
three  ;  especially  devoted  to  his  mother-in-law  —  he 
had  but  one,  the  richest  woman  in  Boston  ;  kind  to 
his  neighbors,  poor  as  well  as  rich  ;  attentive  to  his 
friends  in  sickness,  and  thoughtful  of  them  in  death  ; 
zealous  in  religious  duties  both  in  the  church  and 
the  family ;  public-spirited  and  upright  in  his  service 
to  his  town  and  state,  from  his  high  office  as  judge, 
down  to  fulfilling  petty  duties  such  as  serving  on  the 
watch.  He  had  little  time  for  tavern  life,  and  little 
inclination  to  it ;  and  he  condemned  men  who  "  kept 
ordinaries  and  sold  rum."  He  was  a  shining  exam 
ple  of  the  "  New-English  men,"  whose  fast-thinning 
ranks  he  so  sadly  deplored,  and  whose  virtues  he 
extolled.  He  occasionally  refers  in  his  diary  to  ordi 
naries.  Sometimes  he  soberly  drank  healths  and 
grace-cups  within  Boston  and  Cambridge  tavern 
walls  with  the  honored  Deputies,  at  the  installation 
of  a  new  Governor,  on  the  King's  Coronation  Day, 
or  a  Royal  Birthday.  Sometimes  we  read  of  his 
pleasuring  trips  with  his  wife  to  the  Greyhound  Tav- 


The   Puritan  Ordinary  25 

ern  in  Roxbury,  his  gala  dinner  of  boiled  pork  and 
roast  fowls,  and  his  riding  home  at  curfew  in  "  brave 
moonshine."  That  clear  June  moonlight  shining 
down  through  the  centuries  does  not  display  to  us 
any  very  gay  figures,  any  very  jolly  riders.  We  can 
see  the  Judge  in  rich  but  sad-colored  attire,  with 
his  wife  on  a  pillion  behind  him,  soberly  jogging 
home,  doubtless  singing  psalms  as  they  went  through 
the  short  stretches  of  Roxbury  woods  ;  for  he  sang 
psalms  everywhere  apparently,  when  he  was  per 
mitted  to  do  so.  This  is  as  might  be  expected  of 
a  man  who  on  another  pleasure  jaunt  with  his  wife  left 
her  eating  cherries  in  the  orchard,  while  he,  like  any 
other  Puritan,  "sweetened  his  mouth  with  a  bit  of 
Calvin,"  that  is,  he  sat  indoors  and  read  Calvin  on 
Psalms. 

At  this  time— Kin  the  year  1714 — Boston  had  a 
population  approaching  ten  thousand.  It  had  thirty- 
four  ordinary-  or  inn-holders,  of  whom  twelve  were 
women;  four  common  victuallers,  of  whom  one  was 
a  woman ;  forty-one  retailers  of  liquor,  of  whom 
seventeen  were  women,  and  a  few  cider  sellers. 
There  were,  therefore,  ample  places  in  which  liquor 
could  be  bought;  but  Sewall's  entire  diary  gives 
proof  of  the  orderliness  of  life  in  Boston.  There 
are  not  half  a  dozen  entries  which  give  any  records 
or  show  any  evidence  of  tavern  disorders.  In  1708 
an  inquiry  was  made  by  the  magistrates  "  as  to  de 
baucheries  at  the  Exchange,"  and  as  a  result  one 
young  man  was  fined  five  shillings  for  cursing,  ten 
shillings  for  throwing  a  beer-pot  and  scale-box  at 
the  maid,  and  twenty  shillings  for  lying  —  that  was 


26  Stage-coach  and   Tavern   Days 

all.     The  longest  entry  is  on  the  Queen's  birthday 
in  1714:  — 

"My  neighbor  Colson  knocks  at  my  door  about  nine 
P.M.,  or  past,  to  tell  of  disorders  at  the  ordinary  at  the 
South  End,  kept  by  Mr.  Wallace.  He  desired  me  that  I 


Hound-handle  Tavern  Pitcher. 

would  accompany  Mr.  Bromfield  and  Constable  Howell 
hither.  It  was  35  minutes  past  nine  before  Mr.  Bromfield 
came,  then  we  went,  took  ^neas  Salter  with  us.  Found 
much  company.  They  refused  to  go  away.  Said  was  there 
to  drink  the  Queen's  health  and  had  many  other  healths  to 
drink.  Called  for  more  drink  and  drank  to  me  :  I  took 
notice  of  the  affront,  to  them.  Said  they  must  and  would 
stay  upon  that  solemn  occasion.  Mr.  Netmaker  drank 


The  Puritan  Ordinary  27 

the  Queen's  health  to  me.  I  told  him  I  drank  none ;  on 
that  he  ceased.  Mr.  Brinley  put  on  his  hat  to  affront  me. 
I  made  him  take  it  off.  I  threatened  to  send  some  of  them 
to  prison.  They  said  they  could  but  pay  their  fine  and  do 
ing  that  might  stay.  I  told  them  if  they  had  not  a  care 
they  would  be  guilty  of  a  riot.  Mr.  Bromfield  spake  of 
raising  a  number  of  men  to  quell  them,  and  was  in  some 
heat  ready  to  run  into  the  street.  But  I  did  not  like  that. 
Not  having  pen  and  ink  I  went  to  take  their  names  with 
my  pencil  and  not  knowing  how  to  spell  their  names  they 
themselves  of  their  own  accord  writ  them.  At  last  I  ad 
dressed  myself  to  Mr.  Banister.  I  told  him  he  had  been 
longest  an  inhabitant  and  freeholder  and  I  expected  he 
would  set  a  good  example  by  departing  thence.  Upon  this 
he  invited  them  to  his  own  house,  and  away  they  went. 
And  we  after  them  went  away.  I  went  directly  home 
and  found  it  25  minutes  past  ten  at  night  when  I  entered 
my  own  house." 

No  greater  tribute  to  orderly  Boston  could  be  given 
than  this  record  of  rare  disturbance.  Even  in  that  day, 
half  after  nine  was  not  a  late  hour,  and  it  took  the 
Judge  but  an  hour  to  walk  from  his  house  and 
back  and  disperse  these  soberly  rioting  young  men, 
whom  we  can  picture,  solemnly  writing  down  their 
own  names  with  the  Judge's  pencil  for  him  to  bring 
them  up  in  the  morning.  The  next  day  they  were 
each  fined  five  shillings.  Some  paid,  some  appealed 
and  gave  bonds.  Mr.  Netmaker  was  Secretary  to 
the  Commander  of  her  Majesty's  forces,  and  he  had 
to  pay  five  shillings  for  cursing.  They  also  attempted 
to  make  him  give  bonds  to  keep  the  peace,  but  at  this 
he  and  his  friends  lost  patience  and  refused.  Judges 
Sewall  and  Bromfield  promptly  sent  him  to  jail. 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


It  is 

leased 


not  surprising  to  know  that  the  Governor  re- 
him,  though  under  strenuous  protest  from  the 

two  magistrates, 
who  had,  they  con 
tended,  simply  ex 
ecuted  the  laws. 

Judge  Sewall 
records  one  scene, 
a  typically  Puritan 
ical  one,  and  wor 
thy  of  a  Puritan 
tithing -man.  It 
took  place  at  the 
Castle  Inn  where 
he  went  with  some 
other  good  Bos- 
tonians  to  shut  off 
a  "  vain  show." 


"Treat      with 
Brother    Wing    (the 

Sign-board  of  Hayden  Tavern,  Essex,  Connecticut.      lan(Jlor(n      about       his 

Setting  a  Room  in  his  House  for  a  Man  to  shew  Tricks  in. 
He  saith,  seeing  'tis  offensive  he  will  remedy  it.  It  seems 
the  Room  is  fitted  with  Seats.  I  read  what  Dr.  Ames  saith 
of  Callings,  and  spake  as  I  could  from  this  Principle,  that 
the  Man's  Practice  was  unlawfull,  and  therefore  Capt.  Wing 
could  not  lawfully  give  him  an  accommodation  for  it.  Sung 
the  90  Ps  from  the  1 2  v  to  the  end.  Broke  up." 

There  is  a  suggestion  of  sober  farce  in  this  picture 
of  those  pious  gentlemen  reading  and  expounding  a 
sermon,  whipping  out  their  psalm  books,  and  singing 


The  Puritan   Ordinary  29 

a  psalm  to  poor  hospitable   Landlord  Wing  in  the 
parlor  or  taproom  of  his  own  house. 

Naturally  the  Puritan  planters,  and  all  "  true  New- 
English  men  "  like  Sewall,  did  not  care  to  have 
the  ordinaries  of  their  quiet  towns  made  into  places 
of  gay  resort,  of  what  they  called  "  the  shewing 
of  vain  shews."  They  deemed  those  hostelries 
places  of  hospitable  convenience,  not  of  lively  en 
tertainment.  A  contemporary  poet,  Quarles,  thus 
compares  human  life  to  a  stay  at  an  inn  :  — 

"  Our  life  is  nothing  but  a  winter's  day, 
Some  only  break  their  fast  and  so  away  ; 
Others  stay  dinner  and  depart  full  fed  ; 
The  deepest  age  but  sups  and  goes  to  bed. 
He's  most  in  debt  who  lingers  out  the  day, 
Who  dies  betimes,  has  less  and  less  to  pay." 

This  somewhat  melancholy  view,  both  of  life 
and  of  a  public  house,  lingered  long  in  the  colonies, 
for  nearly  a  century  ;  we  might  say,  with  the  life 
of  the  ordinary.  When  taverns  came,  their  guests 
thought  very  little  of  dying,  and  paid  very  much 
attention  to  living. 


CHAPTER    II 

OLD-TIME    TAVERNS 

BY  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
word  ordinary  was  passing  into  disuse  in 
America  ;  public  houses  had  multiplied  vastly 
and  had  become  taverns,  though  a  few  old-fashioned 
folk — in  letters,  and  doubtless  in  conversation  — 
still  called  them  ordinaries  —  Judge  Sewall  was  one. 
The  word  inn,  universal  in  English  speech,  was 
little  heard  here,  and  tavern  was  universally 
adopted.  Though  to-day  somewhat  shadowed  by 
a  formless  reputation  of  being  frequently  applied  to 
hostelries  of  vulgar  resort  and  coarse  fare  and  ways, 
the  word  tavern  is  nevertheless  a  good  one,  reso 
nant  of  sound  and  accurate  of  application,  since  to 
this  present  time  in  the  commonwealth  of  Massa 
chusetts  and  in  other  states  such  large  and  sumptu 
ous  caravansaries  as  the  Touraine  and  the  Som 
erset  Hotel  of  Boston  are  in  the  eye  and  tongue 
of  the  law  simply  taverns,  and  their  proprietors  inn- 
holders  or  tavern-keepers. 

In  the  Middle  colonies  ordinaries  and  inns  were 
just  as  quickly  opened,  just  as  important,  just  as 
frequent,  as  in  New  England  ;  but  in  the  Southern 
colonies,  the  modes  of  settlement  were  so  different, 

30 


Old-time  Taverns  31 

there  were  so  few  towns  and  villages,  that  hospitality 
to  the  traveller  was  shown  at  each  plantation,  every 
man's  home  was  an  inn  ;  every  planter  was  a  land 
lord. 

In  general  no  charge  was  made  for  the  entertain 
ment  of  the  chance  visitor  whose  stay  was  deemed 
a  pleasure  in  the  secluded  life  of  the  Virginia  to 
bacco  planter.  Indeed,  unless  a  distinct  contract 
had  been  made  in  advance  and  terms  stated,  the 
host  could  not  demand  pay  from  a  guest,  no  mat 
ter  how  long  the  visitor  remained.  Rates  of  prices 
were  set  for  the  first  Virginian  ordinaries  ;  previous 
to  1639  s*x  pounds  of  tobacco  were  paid  for  a  din 
ner,  or  about  eighteen  pence  in  coin  ;  but  as  food 
soon  grew  more  abundant,  the  price  was  reduced  to 
twelve  pence,  and  it  was  enjoined  that  the  food 
must  be  wholesome  and  plentiful.  Then  the 
charges  grew  exorbitant,  —  twenty  pounds  of  to 
bacco  for  a  meal  for  a  master,  fifteen  for  a  servant. 
Throughout  the  country  the  prices  wavered  up  and 
down,  but  were  never  low.  There  were  apparently 
two  causes  for  this  :  the  fact  that  ordinary-keepers 
captured  so  few  guests,  and  also  that  the  tobacco 
leaf  varied  and  depreciated  in  value. 

By  1668  so  many  small  tippling-houses  and 
petty  ordinaries  existed  in  the  colony  of  Virginia 
that  laws  were  passed  restricting  the  number  in  each 
county  to  one  at  the  court-house,  and  possibly  one 
at  a  wharf  or  ferry.  Then  the  magistrates  tried  to 
limit  the  drinks  sold  in  these  houses  to  beer  and 
cider  ;  and  private  individuals  were  warned  not  to 
sell  "any  sort  of  drink  or  liquor  whatsoever,  by 


32  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

retail  under  any  color,  pretence,  delusion,  or  subtle 
evasion  whatsoever."  Those  conditions  did  not 
last  long.  Soon  the  Virginia  ordinaries  had  plenti 
ful  domestic  and  imported  liquors,  and  at  very  low 
prices.  Mr.  Bruce  says  that  "  Madeira,  Canary, 
Malaga,  and  Fayal  wines  were  probably  much  more 
abundant  in  the  Colony  than  in  England  at  this 
time,  and  were  drunk  by  classes  which  in  the  mother 
country  were  content  with  strong  and  small-beer." 

But  the  ordinaries  did  scant  business  as  lodging- 
places.  Governor  Harvey  complained  that  he  could 
with  as  much  justice  be  called  the  host  as  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Virginia,  from  the  great  number  of  persons 
entertained  by  him.  This  condition  of  affairs  con 
tinued  outside  the  cities  till  well  into  this  century.  In 
the  large  towns,  however,  comfortable  taverns  were 
everywhere  established ;  and  they  were,  as  in  the 
Northern  colonies,  the  gathering  places  of  many 
serious  and  many  frivolous  assemblages.  The  best 
of  our  American  taverns  were  found  in  Southern 
cities;  Baltimore  had  the  Fountain  Inn  built  around 
a  courtyard  like  an  old  English  inn,  and  furnished 
very  handsomely. 

Few  of  these  ancient  taverns  still  remain.  The 
old  Indian  Queen  Tavern  is  still  standing  at  Bla- 
densburg,  Maryland.  Its  picture  is  given  opposite 
page  33.  This  view  is  from  a  painting  by  Mr. 
Edward  Lamson  Henry.  It  shows  also  an  old  stage- 
wagon  such  as  was  used  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
starting  out  from  the  tavern  door.  Mr.  Henry 
has  made  a  most  exhaustive  study  of  old-time 
modes  of  travel,  as  well  as  a  fine  collection  of  old 


Old-time  Taverns 


33 


vehicles,  harnesses,  costumes,  etc.  The  copies  of 
his  paintings,  which  I  am  honored  by  using  in  this 
book,  are  in  every  detail  authoritative  and  invaluable 
records  of  the  olden  time. 

With  the  establishment  of  turnpikes,  road  houses 
multiplied,  and  for  a  time  prospered.  But  their  day 
was  short ;  a  typical  Maryland  road  house  is  shown 
on  page  34,  far  gone  in  a  decrepit  and  ugly  old 
age. 

The  history  of  Pennsylvania  shows  that  its  taverns 
were  great  in  number  and  good  in  quality,  especially 
soon  after  the  Revolution.  This  would  be  the  natu 
ral  accompaniment  of  the  excellent  roads  throughout 
the  state.  /Philadelphia  had  an  extraordinary  num 
ber  of  public  houses,  and  many  were  needed ;  for 
the  city  had  a  vast  number  of  visitors,  and  a  great 
current  of  immigration  poured  into  that  port.1  In 
the  chapter  on  Signs  and  Symbols,  many  names  and 
descriptions  are  given  of  old  Philadelphia  taverns. 

The  first  Dutch  directors-general  of  New  Nether- 
land  entertained  infrequent  travellers  and  traders  at 
their  own  homes,  and  were  probably  very  glad  to  have 
these  visitors.  But  trade  was  rapidly  increasing,  and 
Director-General  Kieft,  "  in  order  to  accommodate 
the  English,  from  whom  he  suffered  great  annoy 
ance,  built  a  fine  inn  of  stone."  The  chronicler 
De  Vries  had  often  dined  in  Kieft's  house,  and  he 
says  dryly  of  the  building  of  this  inn,  "  It  happened 
well  for  the  travellers." 

The  Stadt  Harberg,  or  City  Tavern,  was  built  in 
where  now  stand  the  warehouses,  71  and  73  Pearl 
Street.  It  was  ordained  that  a  well  and  brew-house 


34 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


might  be  erected  at  the  rear  of  the  inn  ;  right  was 
given  to  retail  the  East  India  Company's  wine  and 
brandy  ;  and  some  dull  records  exist  of  the  use  of 
the  building  as  an  inn.  It  had  a  career  afterward 


Old  Maryland  Road  House. 

of  years  of  use  and  honor  as  the  Stadt  Huys,  or 
City  Hall ;  I  have  told  its  story  at  length  in  a  paper 
in  the  Half-Moon  Series  on  Historic  New  York. 

The  building  was  certainly  not  needed  as  a  tav 
ern,  for  in  1648  one-fourth  of  the  buildings  in  New 
Amsterdam  had  been  turned  into  tap-houses  for  the 
sale  of  beer,  brandy,  and  tobacco.  Governor  Stuy- 
vesant  placed  some  restraint  on  these  tapsters  ;  they 
had  to  receive  unanimous  consent  of  the  Council  to 
set  up  the  business  ;  they  could  not  sell  to  Indians. 


Old-time  Taverns 


35 


"  Unreasonable  night-tippling,"  that  is,  drinking 
after  the  curfew  bell  at  nine  o'clock,  and  "intem 
perate  drinking  on  the  Sabbath,"  that  is,  drinking 
by  any  one  not  a  boarder  before  three  o'clock  on  the 
Sabbath  (when  church  services  were  ended),  were 
heavily  fined.  Untimely  "sitting  of  clubs"  was 
also  prohibited.  These  laws  were  evaded  with  as 
much  ease  as  the  Raines  Law  provisions  of  later 
years  in  the  same  neighborhood. 

In  1664  the  red  cross  of  St.  George  floated 
over  the  city ;  the  English  were  in  power ;  the  city 
of  New  Amsterdam  was  now  New  York.  The 
same  tavern  laws  as  under  the  Dutch  obtained, 
however,  till  1748,  and  under  the  English,  taverns 
multiplied  as  fast  as  under  Dutch  rule.  They  had 
good  old  English  names  on  their  sign -boards  :  the 
Thistle  and  Crown,  the  Rose  and  Thistle,  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  Bunch  of  Grapes,  St. 
George  and  the  Dragon,  Dog's  Head  in  the  Por 
ridge  Pot,  the  Fighting  Cocks,  the  White  Lion, 
the  King's  Head. 

On  the  Boreel  Building  on  Broadway  is  a  bronze 
commemorative  tablet,  placed  there  in  1890  by  the 
Holland  Society. 

The  site  of  this  building  has  indeed  a  history  of 
note.  In  1754  Edward  Willet  opened  there  a  tavern 
under  the  sign  of  the  Province  Arms  ;  and  many  a 
distinguished  traveller  was  destined  to  be  entertained 
for  many  a  year  at  this  Province  Arms  and  its 
successors.  It  had  been  the  home  residence  of  the 
De  Lanceys,  built  about  1700  by  the  father  of  Lieu 
tenant-Governor  James  De  Lancey,  and  was  deemed 


3 6  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

a  noble  mansion.  The  Province  Arms  began  its 
career  with  two  very  brilliant  public  dinners  :  one 
to  the  new  English  Governor,  Sir  Charles  Hardy  ; 
the  other  upon  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of 
King's  College.  A  grand  function  this  was,  and 
the  Province  Arms  had  full  share  of  honor.  All 
the  guests,  from  Governor  to  students,  assembled 
at  the  tavern,  and  proceeded  to  the  college  grounds ; 
they  laid  the  stone  and  returned  to  Landlord  Wil- 
let's,  where,  says  the  chronicle,  "  the  usual  loyal 
healths  were  drunk,  and  Prosperity  to  the  College; 
and  the  whole  was  conducted  with  the  utmost 
Decency  and  Propriety." 

In  1763  the  Province  Arms  had  a  new  land 
lord,  George  Burns,  late  of  the  King's  Head  in  the 
Whitehall,  and  ere  that  of  the  Cart  and  Horse. 
His  advertisements  show  his  pretensions  to  good 
housekeeping,  and  his  house  was  chosen  for  a 
lottery-drawing  of  much  importance — one  for  the 
building  of  the  lighthouse  at  Sandy  Hook.  This 
lottery  was  for  six  thousand  pounds,  and  lighthouse 
and  lottery  were  special  pets  of  Cadwallader  Colden, 
then  President  of  his  Majesty's  Council.  Lotteries 
were  usually  drawn  at  City  Hall,  but  just  at  that 
time  repairs  were  being  made  upon  that  building,  so 
Mr.  Burns's  long  room  saw  this  important  event. 
The  lighthouse  was  built.  The  New  York  Maga 
zine  for  1790  has  a  picture  and  description  of  it. 
It  is  there  gravely  stated  that  the  light  could  be 
seen  at  a  distance  of  ten  leagues,  that  is,  thirty  miles. 
As  the  present  light  at  Sandy  Hook  is  officially 
registered  to  be  seen  at  fifteen  miles'  distance,  the 


Old-time  Taverns  37 

marvel  of  our  ancestors  must  have  shone  with  "  a 
light  that  never  was  on  land  or  sea." 

Troublous  times  were  now  approaching.  George 
Burns's  long  room  held  many  famous  gatherings 
anent  the  Stamp  Act — at  the  first  the  famous  Non- 
Importation  Agreement  was  signed  by  two  hundred 
stout-hearted  New  York  merchants.  Sons  of 
Liberty  drank  and  toasted  and  schemed  within  the 
walls  of  the  Province  Arms.  Concerts  and  duels 
alternated  with  suppers  and  society  meetings ; 
dancing  committees  and  governors  of  the  college 
poured  in  and  out  of  the  Province  Arms.  In  1792 
Peter  De  Lancey  sold  it  to  the  Tontine  Association  ; 
the  fine  old  mansion  was  torn  down,  and  the  City 
Hotel  sprang  up  in  its  place. 

The  City  Hotel  filled  the  entire  front  of  the  block 
on  Broadway  between  Thomas  and  Cedar  streets. 
Travellers  said  it  had  no  equal  in  the  United  States, 
but  it  was  unpretentious  in  exterior,  as  may  be  seen 
through  the  picture  on  the  old  blue  and  white  plate 
(shown  on  page  38)  which  gives  the  front  view  of 
the  hotel  with  a  man  sawing  wood  on  Broadway,  this 
in  about  1 824.  It  was  simply  yet  durably  furnished, 
and  substantial  comfort  was  found  within.  Though 
the  dining  room  was  simply  a  spacious,  scrupulously 
neat  apartment,  the  waiters  were  numerous  and 
well-trained.  There  was  a  "  lady's  dining  room  " 
in  which  dances,  lectures,  and  concerts  were  given. 
The  proprietors  were  two  old  bachelors,  Jennings 
and  Willard.  It  was  reported  and  believed  that 
Willard  never  went  to  bed.  He  was  never  known 
to  be  away  from  his  post,  and  with  ease  and  good 


j  8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

nature  performed  his  parts  of  host,  clerk,  book 
keeper,  and  cashier.  When  Billy  Niblo  opened  an 
uptown  coffee-house  and  garden,  it  was  deemed  a 
matter  of  courtesy  that  Willard  should  attend  the 
housewarming.  When  the  hour  of  starting  arrived, 


City  Hotel. 

it  was  found  that  Willard  had  .not  for  years  owned  a 
hat.  Two  streets  away  from  the  City  Hall  would 
have  been  to  him  a  strange  city,  in  which  he  could 
be  lost.  Jennings  was  purveyor  and  attended  to 
all  matters  of  the  dining  room,  as  well  as  relations 
with  the  external  world.  Both  hosts  had  the  per- 


Old-time  Taverns 


39 


feet  memory  of  faces,  names,  and  details,  which  often 
is  an  accompaniment  of  the  successful  landlord. 
These  two  men  were  types  of  the  old-fashioned 
Boniface. 

In  the  early  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
genteel  New  York  tavern  was  that  of  Robert  Todd, 
vintner.  It  was  in  Smith  (now  William)  Street 
between  Pine  and  Cedar,  near  the  Old  Dutch 
Church.  The  house  was  known  by  the  sign  of 
the  Black  Horse.  Concerts,  dinners,  receptions, 
and  balls  took  place  within  its  elegant  walls.  On 
the  evening  of  January  19,  1736,  a  ball  was  therein 
given  in  honor  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  birthday. 
The  healths  of  the  Royal  Family,  the  Governor, 
and  Council  had  been  pledged  loyally  and  often  at 
the  fort  through  the  day,  and  "  the  very  great  appear 
ance  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  and  an  elegant  enter 
tainment  "  at  the  ball  fitly  ended  the  celebration. 
The  ladies  were  said  to  be  "  magnificent."  The  ball 
opened  with  French  dances  and  then  proceeded  to 
country  dances,  "upon  which  Mrs.  Morris  led  up 
to  two  new  country  dances  made  upon  the  occasion, 
the  first  of  which  was  called  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
the  second  the  Princess  of  Saxe-Gotha." 

The  Black  Horse  was  noted  for  its  Todd  drinks, 
mainly  composed  of  choice  West  India  rum  ;  and 
by  tradition  it  is  gravely  asserted  that  from  these 
delectable  beverages  was  derived  the  old  drinking 
term  "  toddy."  (Truth  compels  the  accompany 
ing  note  that  the  word  "  toddy,"  like  many  of 
our  drinking  names  and  the  drinks  themselves,  came 
from  India,  and  the  word  is  found  in  a  geographical 


40  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

description  of  India  written  in  1671,  before  Rob 
ert  Todd  was  born,  or  the  Black  Horse  Tavern 
thought  of.) 

When  Robert  of  toddy  fame  died,  after  nine 
years  of  successful  hospitality,  his  widow  Margaret 
reigned  in  his  stead.  She  had  a  turn  for  trade, 
and  advertised  for  sale,  at  wholesale,  fine  wines  and 
playing  cards,  at  reasonable  rates.  In  1750  the 
Boston  Post  made  this  tavern  its  headquarters, 
but  its  glory  of  popularity  was  waning  and  soon 
was  wholly  gone. 

At  the  junction  of  5ist  and  52d  streets  with  the 
post-road  stood  Cato's  Road  House,  built  in  1712. 
Cato  was  a  negro  slave  who  had  so  mastered  various 
specialties  in  cooking  that  he  was  able  to  earn  enough 
money  to  buy  his  freedom  from  his  South  Carolina 
master.  He  kept  this  inn  for  forty-eight  years. 
Those  who  tasted  his  okra  soup,  his  terrapin,  fried 
chicken,  curried  oysters,  roast  duck,  or  drank  his 
New  York  brandy-punch,  his  Virginia  egg-nogg,  or 
South  Carolina  milk-punch,  wondered  how  any  one 
who  owned  him  ever  could  sell  him  even  to  him 
self.  Alongside  his  road  house  he  built  a  ballroom 
which  would  let  thirty  couple  swing  widely  in  ener 
getic  reels  and  quadrilles.  When  Christmas  sleigh 
ing  set  in,  the  Knickerbocker  braves  and  belles 
drove  out  there  to  dance ;  and  there  was  always 
sleighing  at  Christmas  in  old  New  York — all  octo 
genarians  will  tell  you  so.  Cato's  egg-nogg  was 
mixed  in  single  relays  by  the  barrelful.  He  knew 
precisely  the  mystic  time  when  the  separated  white 
and  yolk  was  beaten  enough,  he  knew  the  exact 


Old-time  Taverns  41 

modicum  of  sugar,  he  could  count  with  precision 
the  grains  of  nutmeg  that  should  fleck  the  com 
pound,  he  could  top  to  exactness  the  white  egg 
foam.  A  picture  of  this  old  road  house,  taken 
from  a  print,  is  here  given.  It  seems  but  a  shabby 
building  to  have  held  so  many  gay  scenes. 


Cato's  House. 


The  better  class  of  old-time  taverns  always  had  a 
parlor.  This  was  used  as  a  sitting  room  for  women 
travellers,  or  might  be  hired  for  the  exclusive  use  of 
some  wealthy  person  or  family.  It  was  not  so  jovial 
a  room  as  the  taproom,  though  in  winter  a  glowing 
fire  in  the  open  fireplace  gave  to  the  formal  fur 
nishings  that  look  of  good  cheer  and  warmth  and 
welcome  which  is  ever  present,  even  in  the  meanest 
apartment,  when  from  the  great  logs  the  flames  shot 
up  and  "the  old  rude-furnished  room  burst  flower- 
like  into  rosy  bloom."  We  are  more  comfortable 


42  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

now,  with  our  modern  ways  of  house-heating,  but 
our  rooms  do  not  look  as  warm  as  when  we  had 
open  fires.  In  the  summer  time  the  fireplace  still 
was  an  object  of  interest.  A  poet  writes  :  — 

"  'Tis  summer  now  ;  instead  of  blinking  flames 
Sweet-smelling  ferns  are  hanging  o'er  the  grate. 

With  curious  eyes  I  pore 
Upon  the  mantel-piece  with  precious  wares, 
Glazed  Scripture  prints  in  black  lugubrious  frames, 

Filled  with  old  Bible  lore  ; 
The  whale  is  casting  Jonah  on  the  shore  : 
Pharaoh  is  drowning  in  the  curling  wave. 
And  to  Elijah  sitting  at  his  cave 
The  hospitable  ravens  fly  in  pairs 
Celestial  food  within  their  horny  beaks." 

The  walls  of  one  tavern  parlor  which  I  have  seen 
were  painted  with  scenes  from  a  tropical  forest.  On 
either  side  of  the  fireplace  sprang  a  tall  palm  tree. 
Coiled  serpents,  crouching  tigers,  monkeys,  a  white 
elephant,  and  every  form  of  vivid-colored  bird  and 
insect  crowded  each  other  on  the  walls  of  this  Ver 
mont  tavern.  On  the  parlor  of  the  Washington 
Tavern  at  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  is  a  fine  wall 
paper  with  scenes  of  a  fox-chase.  This  tavern  is 
shown  on  the  opposite  page;  also  on  page  45  one 
of  the  fine  hand-wrought  iron  door-latches  used  on 
its  doors.  These  were  made  in  England  a  century 
and  a  half  ago. 

The  taproom  was  usually  the  largest  room  of 
the  tavern.  It  had  universally  a  great  fireplace,  a 
bare,  sanded  floor,  and  ample  seats  and  chairs. 
Usuallv  there  was  a  tall,  rather  rude  writing-desk, 


Old-time  Taverns 


43 


Washington  Tavern,  Westfield,  Massachusetts. 

at  which  a  traveller  might  write  a  letter,  or  sign  a 
contract,  and  where  the  landlord  made  out  his  bills 
and  kept  his  books.  The  bar  was  the  most  inter 
esting  furnishing  of  this  room.  It  was  commonly 
made  with  a  sort  of  portcullis  grate,  which  could  be 
closed  if  necessary.  But  few  of  these  bars  remain  ; 
nearly  all  have  been  removed,  even  if  the  tavern 
still  stands.  The  taproom  of  the  Wayside  Inn  at 
Sudbury,  Massachusetts,  is  shown  on  page  19.  It 
is  a  typical  example  of  a  room  such  as  existed  in 
hundreds  of  taverns  a  century  ago.  Another  tap 
room  may  still  be  seen  in  the  Wadsworth  Inn. 
This  well-built,  fine  old  house,  shown  on  page  47, 
is  a  good  specimen  of  the  better  class  of  old  taverns, 
It  is  three  miles  from  Hartford,  Connecticut,  on 


44  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

the  old  Albany  turnpike.  It  was  one  of  twenty-one 
taverns  within  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  on  that 
pike.  It  was  not  a  staging  inn  for  every  passing 
coach,  but  enjoyed  an  aristocratic  patronage.  The 
property  has  been  in  the  same  family  for  five  gen 
erations,  but  the  present  building  was  erected  by 
Elisha  Wadsworth  in  1828.  It  is  not  as  old  as  the 
member  of  the  Wadsworth  family  who  now  lives 
in  it,  Miss  Lucy  Wadsworth,  born  in  1801.  Its 
old  taproom  is  shown  on  page  51.  This  tavern 
was  a  public  house  till  the  year  1862. 

Some  of  the  furnishings  of  the  taproom  of  the  old 
Mowry  Inn  still  are  owned  by  Landlord  Mowry's 
descendants,  and  a  group  of  them  is  shown  on  page 
70.  Two  heavy  glass  beakers  brought  from  Hol 
land,  decorated  with  verifiable  colors  like  the  Bristol 
glass,  are  unusual  pieces.  The  wooden  tankard, 
certainly  two  centuries  old,  has  the  curious  ancient 
lid  hinge.  The  Bellarmine  jug  was  brought  to 
America  filled  with  fine  old  gin  from  Holland  by 
Mayor  Willet,  the  first  Mayor  of  New  York  City. 
The  bowl  is  one  of  the  old  Indian  knot  bowls.  It 
has  been  broken  and  neatly  repaired  by  sewing  the 
cracks  together  with  waxed  thread.  The  sign-board 
of  this  old  inn  is  shown  on  page  57.  The  house 
stood  on  the  post-road  between  Woonsocket  and 
Providence,  in  a  little  village  known  as  Lime  Rock. 
As  it  was  a  relay  house  for  coaches,  it  had  an  impor 
tance  beyond  the  size  of  the  settlement  around  it. 

Sometimes  the  taproom  was  decorated  with  broad 
hints  to  dilatory  customers.  Such  verses  as  this 
were  hung  over  the  bar  :  — 


Old-time  Taverns  45 

"I've  trusted  many  to  my  sorrow. 
Pay  to-day.      I'll  trust  to-morrow." 

Another  ran  :  — 

"  My  liquor's  good,  my  measure  just ; 
\    But,  honest  Sirs,  I  will  not  trust." 

Another  showed  a  dead  cat  with  this  motto  :  — 

"  Care  killed  this  Cat. 

Trust  kills  the  Landlord." 
Still  another :  — 

"If  Trust, 
I  must, 
My  ale, 
Will  pale." 

The  old  Phillips  farm-house  at  Wickford,  Rhode 
Island,  was  at  one  time  used  as  a  tavern.      It  has  a 
splendid    chimney  over    twenty    feet    square.       So 
much  room  does  this 
occupy  that  there   is 
no    central    staircase, 
and     little     winding 
stairs  ascend  at  three 
corners  of  the  house. 
On     each     chimney- 
piece    are    hooks    to 
hang  firearms,  and  at 

one  side  curious  little  '•  i'mmm\  vn 

drawers    are    set   for 
pipes  and  tobacco.    I 

have  seen  these  tobacco  drawers  in  several  old  tav 
erns.  In  some  Dutch  houses  in  New  York  these 
tobacco  shelves  are  found  in  an  unusual  and  seem- 


46  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

ingly  ill-chosen  place,  namely,  in  the  entry  over  the 
front  door  ;  and  a  narrow  flight  of  three  or  four  steps 
leads  up  to  them.  Hanging  on  a  nail  alongside  the 
tobacco  drawer  or  shelf  would  usually  be  seen  a  pipe- 
tongs  —  or  smoking  tongs.  They  were  slender  little 
tongs,  usually  of  iron  or  steel ;  with  them  the  smoker 
lifted  a  coal  from  the  fireplace  to  light  his  pipe. 
Sometimes  the  handle  of  the  tongs  had  one  end 
elongated,  knobbed,  and  ingeniously  bent  S-shaped 
into  convenient  form  to  press  down  the  tobacco 
into  the  bowl  of  the  pipe.  Other  old-time  pipe- 
tongs  were  in  the  form  of  a  lazy-tongs.  A  com 
panion  of  the  pipe-tongs  on  the  mantel  was  what 
was  known  as  a  comfortier ;  a  little  brazier  of  metal 
in  which  small  coals  could  be  handed  about  for 
pipe  lighting.  An  unusual  luxury  was  a  comfortier 
of  silver,  which  were  found  among  the  wealthy 
Dutch  settlers. 

Two  old  taverns  of  East  Poultney,  Vermont, 
are  shown  on  page  59.  Both  sheltered  Horace 
Greeley  in  his  sojourn  there.  The  upper  house, 
the  Pine  Tree,  is  a  "  sun-line "  house,  facing 
due  north,  with  its  ends  pointing  east  and  west. 
Throughout  a  century  the  other  house,  the  Eagle 
Tavern,  has  never  lost  its  calling ;  now  it  is  the 
only  place  in  the  village  where  the  tourist  may  find 
shelter  for  the  night  unless  he  takes  advantage  of 
the  kindness  of  some  good-hearted  housekeeper. 

The  main  portion  of  the  Eagle  Tavern  of  Newton, 
New  Hampshire,  is  still  standing  and  is  shown  with 
its  sign-board  on  page  126.  It  was  the  "halfway 
house"  on  the  much-travelled  stage-road  between 


Old-time  Taverns 


47 


Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  and  Exeter,  New  Hamp 
shire.  The  house  was  kept  by  Eliphalet  Bartlett  in 
Revolutionary  times  as  account-books  show,  though 
the  sign-board  bears  the  date  1798.  The  tavern 
originally  had  two  long  wings,  in  one  of  which  was 
kept  a  country  store.  Five  generations  of  Bartletts 
were  born  in  it  before  it  was  sold  to  the  present 


Wadsworth  Inn,  Hartford,  Connecticut. 

owners.  The  sign-board  displays  on  one  side  the 
eagle  which  confers  the  name  ;  on  the  other,  what 
was  termed  in  old  descriptions  a  punch-bowl,  but 
which  is  evidently  a  disjointed  teapot. 

About  the  time  when  settlements  in  the  New 
World  had  begun  to  assume  the  appearance  of  towns, 
and  some  attempt  at  closely  following  English  modes 
of  life  became  apparent,  there  were  springing  up  in 
London  at  everv  street  corner  coffee-houses,  which 


48  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

.flourished  through  the  times  of  Dry  den,  Johnson, 
and  Goldsmith,  till  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury.  Tea  and  coffee  came  into  public  use  in  close 
companionship.  The  virtues  of  the  Turkish  bever 
age  were  first  introduced  to  Londoners  by  a  retired 
Turkey  merchant  named  Daniel  Edwards,  and  his 
Greek  servant,  Pasque  Rosser.  The  latter  opened 
the  first  coffee-house  in  London  in  1652.  The  first 
advertisement  of  this  first  coffee  venture  is  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum. 

The  English  of  a  certain  class  were  always  ready 
to  turn  an  evil  eye  on  all  new  drinks,  and  coffee  had 
to  take  its  share  of  abuse.  It  was  called  "syrup  of 
soot,"  and  "  essence  of  old  shoes,"  etc. ;  and  the 
keeper  of  the  Rainbow  Coffee-house  was  punished 
as  a  nuisance  "  for  making  and  selling  of  a  drink 
called  coffee  whereby  in  making  the  same  he  annoy- 
eth  his  neighbours  by  evil 'smells."  Soon,  however, 
the  smell  of  coffee  was  not  deemed  evil,  but  became 
beloved;  and  every  profession,  trade,  class,  and 
party  had  its  coffee-house.  The  parsons  met  at  one, 
"cits"  at  another;  soldiers  did  not  drink  coffee  with 
lawyers,  nor  gamesters  with  politicians.  A  penny 
was  paid  at  the  bar  at  entering,  which  covered 
newspaper  and  lights ;  twopence  paid  for  a  dish  of 
coffee.  Coffee-houses  sprang  up  everywhere  in 
America  as  in  London.  In  1752  in  New  York  the 
New  or  Royal  Exchange  was  held  to  be  so  laudable 
an  undertaking  that  ^100  was  voted  toward  its  con 
struction  by  the  Common  Council.  It  was  built 
like  the  English  exchanges,  raised  on  brick  arches, 
and  was  opened  as  a  coffee-room  in  1754.  The 


Old-time  Taverns  49 

name  of  the  Merchant's  Coffee-house  —  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Wall  and  Water  streets  —  ap 
pears  in  every  old  newspaper.  It  was  a  centre  of 
trade.  Ships,  cargoes,  lands,  houses,  negroes,  and 
varied  merchandise  were  "  vendued  "  at  this  coffee 
house.  It  also  served  as  an  insurance  office. 
Alexander  Macraby  wrote  in  1768  in  New  York  :  — 

"  They  have  a  vile  practice  here,  which  is  peculiar  to 
this  city ;  I  mean  that  of  playing  back-gammon  (a  noise  I 
detest)  which  is  going  forward  in  the  public  coffee-houses 
from  morning  till  night,  frequently  ten  or  a  dozen  tables  at 
a  time." 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  English  sin  of 
gaming  with  cards  did  not  exist  in  New  York  coffee 
houses. 

The  London  Coffee-house  was  famous  in  the 
history  of  Philadelphia.  On  April  15,  1754,  the 
printer,  Bradford,  put  a  notice  in  his  journal  for  sub 
scribers  to  the  coffee-house  to  meet  at  the  court 
house  on  the  1 9th  to  choose  trustees.  Bradford 
applied  for  a  license  to  the  Governor  and  Council 
thus : — 

"  Having  been  advised  to  keep  a  Coffee-House  for  the 
benefit  of  merchants  and  traders,  and  as  some  people  may 
be  desirous  at  times  to  be  furnished  with  other  liquors 
besides  coffee,  your  petitioner  apprehends  that  it  is  neces 
sary  to  have  the  government  license." 

The  coffee-house  was  duly  opened ;  Bradford's 
account  for  opening  day  was  ^9  6s.  The  trustees 
also  lent  him  ^259  of  the  ^350  of  subscriptions, 


50  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

and  this  coffee-house  became  a  factor  in  Ameri 
can  history.  The  building,  erected  about  1702, 
stood  on  the  corner  of  Front  and  Market  streets,  on 
land  which  had  been  given  by  Penn  to  his  daughter 
Letitia.  Bradford  was  a  grandson  of  the  first  printer 
Bradford,  and  father  of  the  Attorney-General  of 
the  United  States  under  Washington.  His  stand 
ing  at  once  gave  the  house  prestige  and  much  cus 
tom.  Westcott  says  "it  was  the  headquarters  of  life 
and  action,  the  pulsating  heart  of  excitement,  enter 
prise,  and  patriotism."  Soldiers  and  merchants  here 
met ;  slaves  here  were  sold ;  strangers  resorted  for 
news ;  captains  sold  cargoes ;  sheriffs  held  "  van- 
dues." 

The^  Exchange  Coffee-house  of  Boston  was  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  of  all  these  houses.  It  was 
a  mammoth  affair  for  its  day,  being  seven  stories 
in  height.  It  was  completed  in  1808,  having  been 
nearly  three  years  in  building,  and  having  cost  half 
a  million  dollars.  The  principal  floor  was  an  ex 
change.  It  ruined  many  of  the  workmen  who 
helped  to  build  it.  During  the  glorious  days  of 
stage-coach  travel,  its  successor,  built  after  it  was 
burnt  in  1818,  had  a  brilliant  career  as  a  staging 
tavern,  for  it  had  over  two  hundred  bedro'oms,  and 
was  in  the  centre  of  the  city.  At  this  Coffee-house 
Exchange  was  kept  a  register  of  marine  news, 
arrivals,  departures,  etc.,  and  many  distinguished 
naval  officers  were  registered  there;  At  a  sumptu 
ous  dinner  given  to  President  Monroe,  who  had 
rooms  there,  in  July,  1817,  there  were  present  Com 
modores  Bainbridge,  Hull,  and  Perry ;  ex-Presi- 


Old-time  Taverns 


Taproom  of  Wadsworth  Inn. 

dent  John  Adams ;  Generals  Swift,  Dearborn,  Cobb, 
and  Humphreys ;  Judges  Story,  Parker,  Davis, 
Adams,  and  Jackson  ;  Governor  Brooks,  Governor 
Phillips,  and  man)  other  distinguished  men. 

It  would  be  a  curious  and  entertaining  study  to 
trace  the  evolution  of  our  great  hotels,  from  the 
cheerful  taverns  and  country  inns,  beloved  of  all 


52  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

travellers,  to  more  pretentious  road  houses,  to  cof 
fee-houses,  then  to  great  crowded  hotels.  We 
could  see  the  growth  of  these  vast  hotels,  especially 
those  of  summer  resorts,  and  also  their  decay.  In 
many  fashionable  watering-places  great  hotels  have 
been  torn  down  within  a  few  years  to  furnish  space 
for  lawns  and  grounds  around  a  splendid  private 
residence.  Many  others  are  deserted  and  closed, 
some  flourish  in  exceptional  localities  which  are  in 
isolated  or  remote  parts  of  the  country,  such  as 
southern  Florida,  the  Virginia  mountains,  etc. ; 
many  have  been  forced  to  build  so-called  cottages 
where  families  can  have  a  little  retirement  and 
privacy  between  meals,  which  are  still  eaten  in  a 
vast  common  dining  room.  But  the  average  Ameri 
can  of  means  in  the  Northern  states,  whose  parents 
never  left  the  city  till  after  the  4th  of  July,  and 
then  spent  a  few  weeks  in  the  middle  of  the  sum 
mer  in  a  big  hotel  at  Saratoga,  or  Niagara  Falls, 
or  Far  Rockaway,  or  in  the  White  Mountains,  now 
spends  as  many  months  in  his  own  country  home. 
A  few  extraordinary  exceptions  in  hotel  life  in 
America  remain  prosperous,  however,  the  chief 
examples  on  our  Eastern  coast  being  at  Atlantic 
City  and  Old  Point  Comfort. 

The  study  of  tavern  history  often  brings  to  light 
much  evidence  of  sad  domestic  changes.  Many  a 
cherished  and  beautiful  home,  rich  in  annals  of 
family  prosperity  and  private  hospitality,  ended  its 
days  as  a  tavern.  Many  a  stately  building  of  his 
toric  note  was  turned  into  an  inn  in  its  later  career. 
The  Indian  Queen  in  Philadelphia  had  been  at 


Old-time  Taverns  53 

various  times  the  home  of  Sir  Richard  Perm,  the 
headquarters  of  General  Howe  and  of  General  Bene 
dict,  the  home  of  Robert  Morris  and  Presidents 
Washington  and  Adams.  Benjamin  Franklin's  home 
became  a  tavern  ;  so  also  did  the  splendid  Bingham 
mansion,  which  was  built  in  1790  by  the  richest 
man  of  his  day.  Governor  Lloyd's  house  became 
the  Cross  Trees  Inn.  Boston  mansions  had  the 
same  fate.  That  historic  building  —  the  Province 
House  —  served  its  term  as  a  tavern. 

Sometimes  an  old-time  tavern  had  a  special  petty 
charm  of  its  own,  some  peculiarity  of  furnishing  or 
fare.  One  of  these  was  the  Fountain  Inn  of  Med- 
ford,  Massachusetts.  It  was  built  in  1725  and  soon 
became  vastly  frequented.  No  town  could  afford  a 
better  site  for  inns  than  Medford.  All  the  land 
travel  to  Boston  from  Maine,  eastern  New  Hamp 
shire,  and  northeastern  Massachusetts  poured  along 
the  main  road  through  Medford,  wJiich  was  just  dis 
tant  enough  from  Boston  centre  to  insure  the  halting 
and  patronage  of  every  passer-by.  The  Fountain 
Inn  bustled  with  constant  customers,  and  I  can  well 
believe  that  all  wanderers  gladly  stopped  to  board 
and  bait  at  this  hospitable  tavern.  For  I  know 
nothing  more  attractive,  "  under  the  notion  of  an 
inn,"  than  this  old  tavern  must  have  been,  espe 
cially  through  the  long  summer  months.  It  was  a 
road  house  and  stood  close  to  the  country  road,  so 
was  never  quiet;  yet  it  afforded  nevertheless  a  charm 
ing  and  restful  retreat  for  weary  and  heated  wan 
derers.  For  on  either  side  of  the  front  dooryard 
grew  vast  low-spreading  trees,  and  in  their  heavy 


54 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


branches  platforms  were  built  and  little  bridges  con 
nected  tree  to  tree,  and  both  to  the  house.  Per 
haps  the  happy  memories  of  hours  and  days  of  my 
childhood  spent  in  a  like  tree  nest  built  in  an  old 
apple  tree,  endow  these  tree  rooms  of  the  Fountain 


Fountain  Inn. 


Inn  with  charms  which  cannot  be  equally  endorsed 
and  appreciated  by  all  who  read  of  them  ;  but  to  me 
they  form  an  ideal  traveller's  joy.  To  sit  there 
through  the  long  afternoon  or  in  the  early  twilight, 
cool  and  half  remote  among  the  tree  branches,  drink 
ing  a  dish  of  tea ;  watching  horsemen  and  cartmen 
and  sturdy  pedestrians  come  and  go,  and  the  dash- 


Old-time  Taverns 


55 


ing  mail-coach  rattle  up,  a  flash  of  color  and  noise 
and  life,  and  pour  out  its  motley  passengers,  and 
speedily  roll  away  with  renewed  patrons  and  splen 
dor —  why,  it  was  like  a  scene  in  a  light  opera. 

The  tree  abodes  and  the  bridges  fell  slowly  in 
pieces,  and  one  great  tree  died ;  but  its  companion 
lived  till  1879,  wnen  it,  too,  was  cut  down  and  the 
bald  old  commonplace  building  crowded  on  the 
dusty  street  stood  bare  and  ugly,  without  a  vestige 
or  suggestion  of  past  glory  around  it.  Now  that, 
too,  is  gone,  and  only  the  picture  on  the  opposite 
page,  of  the  tavern  in  its  dying  poverty,  remains  to 
show  what  was  once  the  scene  of  so  much  bustle 
and  good  cheer. 

The  State  House  Inn  of  Philadelphia  was  built 
in  1693,  and  was  long  known  as  Clark's  Inn.  It 
was  a  poor  little  building  which  stood  in  a  yard, 
not  green  with  grass,  but  white  with  oysters  and 
clam  shells.  Its  proximity  to  the  State  House 
gave  it  the  custom  of  the  members  and  hangers-on 
of  the  colonial  assemblies.  William  Penn  often 
smoked  his  pipe  on  its  porch.  Clark  had  a  sign 
board,  the  Coach  and  Horses,  and  he  had  some 
thing  else  which  was  as  common  perhaps  in  Philadel 
phia  as  tavern  sign-boards,  namely,  turnspit  dogs  — 
little  patient  creatures,  long-bodied  and  crook-legged, 
whose  lives  were  spent  in  the  exquisite  tantalization 
of  helping  to  cook  the  meat,  whose  appetizing 
odors  of  roasting  they  sniffed  for  hours  without 
any  realization  of  tasting  at  the  end  of  their  labors. 

Dr.  Caius,  founder  of  the  college  at  Cambridge, 
England,  that  bears  his  name,  is  the  earliest  English 


56  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

writer  upon  the  dog,  and  he  tells  thus  of  turnspits  : 
"  Certain  dogs  in  kitchen  service  excellent.  When 
meat  is  to  be  roasted  they  go  into  a  wheel,  where, 
turning  about  with  the  weight  of  their  bodies  they 
so  diligently  look  to  their  business  that  no  drudge 
or  scullion  can  do  the  feat  more  cunningly."  The 
Philadelphia  landlord  says  in  his  advertisement  of 
dogs  for  sale,  "  No  clock  or  jack  so  cunningly." 
The  summary  and  inhuman  mode  of  teaching  these 
turnspits  their  humble  duties  is  described  in  a  book 
of  anecdotes  published  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne  in 
1809.  The  dog  was  put  in  the  wheel.  A  burning 
coal  was  placed  with  him.  If  he  stopped,  his  legs 
were  burned.  That  was  all.  He  soon  learned  his 
lesson.  It  was  hard  work,  for  often  the  great  piece 
of  beef  was  twice  the  weight  of  the  dog,  and  took  at 
least  three  long  hours'  roasting.  I  am  glad  to  know 
that  these  hard-working  turn-broches  usually  grew 
shrewd  with  age  ;  learned  to  vanish  at  the  approach 
of  the  cook  or  the  appearance  of  the  wheel.  At  one 
old-time  tavern  in  New  York  little  brown  Jesse 
listened  daily  at  the  kitchen  doorstep  while  the 
orders  were  detailed  to  the  kitchen  maids,  and  he 
could  never  be  found  till  nightfall  on  roast-meat 
days ;  nay,  more,  he,  as  was  the  custom  of  dogs  in 
that  day,  went  with  his  mistress  to  meeting  and  lay 
at  her  feet  in  the  pew.  And  when  the  parson  one 
Sunday  chose  to  read  and  expound  from  the  first 
chapter  of  Ezekiel,  Jesse  fled  with  silent  step  and 
slunken  tail  and  drooping  ears  at  the  unpleasant 
verse,  "And  when  the  living  creatures  went,  the 
wheels  went  by  them  ;  and  when  the  living  creatures 


Old-time  Taverns 


57 


were  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  the  wheels  were  lifted 
up."      Naturally  Jesse   never   suspected   that  these 
Biblical  wheels  were  only  parts  of  innocent  allegor 
ical    chariots,    but 
deemed    them   in 
stead    a   very  un 
timely  and  unkind 
reminder  on  a  day 
of  rest  of  his  own 
hated     turnspit 
wheel. 

One  of  the 
sweetest  of  all  tales 
of  an  inn  is  that 
begun  by  Profes 
sor  Reichel  and 
ended  by  Mr. 
John  W.  Jordan 
of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Penn 
sylvania  ;  it  is 
called  "A  Red 
Rose  from  the 
Olden  Time."  It  is  a  story  of  Der  neue  Gastbof  or 
"  The  Tavern  behind  Nazareth,"  as  it  was  modestly 
called,  the  tavern  of  the  Moravian  settlement  at 
Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania.  It  was  a  substantial 
building,  "  quartered,  brick-nogged,  and  snugly 
weatherboarded,  with  a  yard  looking  North  and  a 
Garden  looking  South."  In  1754,  under  the 
regency  of  its  first  ruler,  one  Schaub,  the  cooper, 
and  Divert  Mary,  his  faithful  wife,  it  bore  a  sign- 


Sign-board  of  N.  Mowry's  Inn. 


58  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

board  charged  with  a  full-blown  rose,  and  was  ever 
after  known  as  the  Rose.  This  was  not  because 
the  walls  were  coated  with  Spanish  red ;  this  rose 
bloomed  with  a  life  derived  from  sentiment  and 
history,  for  it  was  built  on  land  released  by 
William  Penn  on  an  annual  payment  as  rental  of 

ONE    RED    ROSE. 

There  is  something  most  restful  and  beautiful  in 
the  story  of  this  old  inn.  Perhaps  part  of  the  hid 
den  charm  comes  from  the  Biblical  names  of  the  towns. 
For,  without  our  direct  consciousness,  there  is  ever 
something  impressive  in  Biblical  association  ;  there 
is  a  magical  power  in  Biblical  comparison,  a  tender 
ness  in  the  use  of  Biblical  words  and  terms  which  we 
feel  without  actively  noting.  So  this  Red  Rose  of 
Nazareth  seems  built  on  the  road  to  Paradise. 
An  inventory  was  made  of  the  homely  contents  of 
the  Rose  in  1765,  when  a  new  landlord  entered 
therein  ;  and  they  smack  of  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil.  Ample  store  was  there  of  rum,  both 
of  New  England  and  the  West  Indies,  of  Lisbon 
wine,  of  cider  and  madigolum,  which  may  have  been 
metheglin.  Punch-bowls,  tumblers,  decanters,  fun 
nels,  black  bottles,  and  nutmeg-graters  and  nutmegs 
also.  Feather-beds  and  pillows  were  there  in  abun 
dance,  and  blankets  and  coverlets,  much  pewter  and 
little  china,  ample  kitchen  supplies  of  all  sorts.  In 
war  and  peace  its  record  was  of  interest,  and  its  solid 
walls  stood  still  colored  a  deep  red  till  our  own  day. 

The  night-watch  went  his  rounds  in  many  of  our 
colonial  towns,  and  called  the  hour  and  the  weather. 
Stumbling  along  with  his  long  staff  and  his  dim  horn- 


Old-time  Taverns 


59 


lantern,  he  formed  no  very  formidable  figure  either 
to  affright  marauders  or  warn  honest  citizens  that 
they  tarried  too  long  in  the  taproom.  But  his 
voice  gave  a  certain  sense  of  protection  to  all  who 
chanced 
to  wake  in 
the  night, 
a  knowl 
edge  that 
a  friend 
was  near. 
All  who 
dwelt  in 
the  old 


towns  of 
Bethle 
hem  and 
Nazareth 
in  Penn 
sylvania 
could  lis 
ten  and  be 

truly  cheered  by  the  sound  of  the  beautiful  verses 
written  for  the  night  watchman  by  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf.  In  winter  the  watchman  began  his  rounds  at 
eight  o'clock,  in  summer  at  nine.  No  scenes  of 
brawling  or  tippling  could  have  prevailed  at  the 


Pine-tree  Tavern  and  Eagle  Tavern. 


60  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Rose  Inn  when  these  words  of  peace  and  piety  rang 
out :  — 

Eight  o'clock  : 

The  clock  is  eight  !     To  Bethlehem  all  is  told, 
How  Noah  and  his  seven  were  saved  of  old. 

Nine  o'clock  : 

Hear,  Brethren,  hear  !     The  hour  of  nine  is  come  ; 
Keep  pure  each  heart  and  chasten  every  home. 

Ten  o'clock  : 

Hear,  Brethren,  hear  !      Now  ten  the  hour-hand  shows  ; 
They  only  rest  who  long  for  night's  repose. 

Eleven  o'clock  : 

The  clock's  eleven  !     And  ye  have  heard  it  all, 
How  in  that  hour  the  mighty  God  did  call. 

Twelve  o'clock  : 

It's  midnight  now  !      And  at  that  hour  ye  know 
With  lamps  to  meet  the  bridegroom  we  must  go. 

One  o'clock  : 

The  hour  is  one  !      Through  darkness  steals  the  day. 
Shines  in  your  hearts  the  morning  star's  first  ray  ? 

Two  o'clock  : 

The  clock  is  two  1      Who  comes  to  meet  the  day, 
And  to  the  Lord  of  Days  his  homage  pay  ? 

Three  o'clock  : 

The  clock  is  three  :     The  three  in  one  above 
Let  body,  soul,  and  spirit  truly  love. 

Four  o'clock  : 

The  clock  is  four  !      Where'er  on  earth  are  three, 
The  Lord  has  promised  He  the  fourth  will  be. 


Old-time  Taverns  61 

Five  o'clock  : 

The  clock  is  five  !     While  five  away  were  sent, 
Five  other  virgins  to  the  marriage  went. 

Six  o'clock  : 

The  clock  is  six  !     And  from  the  watch  I'm  free, 
And  every  one  may  his  own  watchman  be. 


CHAPTER    III 

THE    TAVERN    LANDLORD 

THE  landlord  of  colonial  days  may  not  have 
been  the  greatest  man  in  town,  but  he  was 
certainly  the  best-known,  often  the  most 
popular,  and  ever  the  most  picturesque  and  cheer 
ful  figure.  Travellers  did  not  fail  to  note  him  and 
his  virtues  in  their  accounts  of  their  sojourns.  In 
1686  a  gossiping  London  bookseller  and  author, 
named  John  Dunton,  made  a  cheerful  visit  to  Bos 
ton.  He  did  not  omit  to  pay  tribute  in  his  story 
of  colonial  life  to  colonial  landlords.  He  thus  pic 
tures  George  Monk,  the  landlord  of  the  Blue 
Anchor  of  Boston  :  — 

"  A  person  so  remarkable  that,  had  I  not  been  acquainted 
with  him,  it  would  be  a  hard  matter  to  make  any  New 
England  man  believe  I  had  been  in  Boston  ;  for  there  was 
no  one  house  in  all  the  town  more  noted,  or  where  a  man 
might  meet  with  better  accommodation.  Besides,  he  was 
a  brisk  and  jolly  man,  whose  conversation  was  coveted  by 
all  his  guests  as  the  life  and  spirit  of  the  company." 

This  picture  of  an  old-time  publican  seems  more 
suited  to  English  atmosphere  than  to  the  stern  air 
of  New  England  Puritanism. 

62 


The  Tavern   Landlord 


Grave  and  re 
spectable    citi 
zens  were  chosen 
to  keep  the  early 
ordinaries  and 
sell  liquor.    The 
first   "house    of 
intertainment " 
at      Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, 
was    kept    by   a 
deacon     of    the 
church,     after 
ward  Steward  of 
Harvard       Col 
lege.     The  first 
license    in     that 
town     to     sell 
wine  and  strong 
water     was      to 
Nicholas     Dan- 
forth,   a    select 
man,  and  Repre 
sentative  to  the 
General     Court. 
InthePlymouth 
Colony       Mr. 
William    Collier 
and     Mr.    Con 
stant         South-  Sign-board  of  Washington  Hotel. 

worth,  one  of  the  honored  Deputies,  sold  wine  to 
their  neighbors.     These  sober  and  discreet  citizens 


64  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

were  men  of  ample  means,  who  took  the  duty  of 
wine-selling  to  aid  the  colony  rather  than  their  own 
incomes. 

The  first  ordinary  in  the  town  of  Duxbury  was 
kept  by  one  Francis  Sprague,  said  by  a  local  chroni 
cler  to  be  of  "  ardent  temperament."  His  license 
was  granted  October  i,  1638,  "to  keep  a  victualling 
on  Duxburrow  side."  His  ardent  temperament 
shaped  him  into  a  somewhat  gay  reveller,  and  his 
license  was  withdrawn.  It  was  regranted  and  again 
recalled  in  1666.  His  son  succeeded  him,  another 
jovial  fellow.  Duxbury  folk  were  circumspect  and 
sober,  and  desired  innkeepers  of  cooler  blood. 
Mr.  Seabury,  one  of  the  tavern  inspectors,  was 
granted  in  1678  "to  sell  liquors  unto  such  sober- 
minded  neighbours  as  hee  shall  thinke  meet ;  soe 
as  hee  sell  not  lesse  than  the  quantie  of  a  gallon 
att  a  tyme  to  one  pson,  and  not  in  smaller  quantities 
by  retaile  to  the  occationing  of  drunkeness." 

The  license  to  sell  liquor  and  keep  a  tavern 
explained  clearly  the  limitations  placed  on  a  tavern- 
keeper.  The  one  given  the  Andover  landlord  in 
1692  ran  thus  :  — 

"  The  Condition  of  this  Obligation  is  sent.  That 
Whereas  the  above  said  William  Chandler  is  admitted  and 
allowed  by  their  Majesties'  Justices  at  a  General  Sessions 
of  the  Peace  to  keep  a  common  Home  of  Entertainment 
and  to  use  common  selling  of  Ale,  Beer,  Syder,  etc.,  till 
the  General  Session  of  Peace  next,  in  the  now-Dwelling 
house  of  said  Chandler  in  Andover,  commonly  known  by 
the  sign  of  the  Horse  Shoe  and  no  other,  if  therefore  the 
said  William  Chandler,  during  the  time  of  keeping  a  Pub- 


The  Tavern   Landlord 


Jick  House  shall  not  permit,  suffer,  or  have  any  playing  at 
Dice,  Cards,  Tables,  Quoits,  Loggets,  Bowls,  Ninepins, 
Billiards,  or  any  other  unlawful  Game  or  Games  in  his 
House,  yard,  Garden,  or  Backside,  nor  shall  suffer  to  be  or 
remain  in  his  House  any  person  or  persons  not  being  of 
his  own  family  upon  Saturday 
nights  after  it  is  Dark,  nor  any 
time  on  the  Sabbath  Day  or 
Evening  after  the  Sabbath,  nor 
shall  suffer  any  person  to  lodge 
or  stay  in  his  House  above  one 
Day  or  Night,  but  such  whose 
Name  and  Surname  he  shall  de 
liver  to  some  one  of  the  Select 
men  or  Constables  or  some  one 
of  the  Officers  of  the  Town, 
unless  they  be  such  as  he  very 
well  knoweth,  and  will  answer 
for  his  or  their  forthcoming : 
nor  shall  sell  any  Wine  or 
Liquors  to  any  Indians  or  Ne 
groes  nor  suffer  any  apprentices 
or  servants  or  any  other  persons 
to  remain  in  his  house  tippling 
or  drinking  after  nine  of  the 
Clock  in  the  night  time ;  nor 
buy  or  take  to  Pawn  any  stolen 
goods,  nor  willingly  Harbor  in 

his  said  House,  Barn,  Stable,  or  Otherwhere  any  Rogues, 
Vagabonds,  Thieves,  nor  other  notorious  offenders  what 
soever,  nor  shall  suffer  any  person  or  persons  to  sell 
or  utter  any  ale,  beer,  syder,  etc.,  by  Deputation  or  by 
colour  of  this  License,  and  also  keep  the  true  assize  and 
measure  in  his  Pots,  Bread  and  otherwise  in  uttering  of  ale, 
beer,  syder,  rum,  wine,  &c.,  and  the  same  sell  by  sealed 


t. 


Ejrtertammeh 


66  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

measure.  And  in  his  said  house  shall  and  do  use  and  main 
tain  good  order  and  Rule  :  Then  this  present  Obligation  to 
be  either  void,  or  else  to  stand  in  full  Force,  Power,  and 
Virtue." 

Dr.  Dwight  in  his  Travels  said  that  English 
men  often  laughed  at  the  fact  that  inns  in  New 
England  were  kept  by  men  of  consequence.  He 
says  :  — 

"  Our  ancestors  considered  the  inn  a  place  where  cor 
ruption  might  naturally  arise  and  easily  spread  ;  also  as  a 
place  where  travellers  must  trust  themselves,  their  horses, 
baggage,  and  money,  and  where  women  must  not  be  sub 
jected  to  disagreeable  experiences.  To  provide  for  safety 
and  comfort  and  against  danger  and  mischief  they  took 
particular  pains  in  their  laws  to  prevent  inns  from  being 
kept  by  unprincipled  or  worthless  men.  Every  innkeeper 
in  Connecticut  must  be  recommended  by  the  selectmen  and 
civil  authorities,  constables  and  grand  jurors  of  the  town 
in  which  he  resides,  and  then  licensed  at  the  discretion  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  It  was  substantially  the 
same  in  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire." 

Lieutenant  Francis  Hall,  travelling  through  Amer 
ica  in  1817,  wrote  :  — 

"  The  innkeepers  of  America  are  in  most  villages  what 
we  call  vulgarly,  topping  men  —  field  officers  of  militia, 
with  good  farms  attached  to  their  taverns,  so  that  they  are 
apt  to  think  what,  perhaps,  in  a  newly  settled  country  is  not 
very  wide  of  the  truth,  that  travellers  rather  receive  than 
confer  a  favour  by  being  accommodated  at  their  houses.  The 
daughters  of  the  host  officiate  at  tea  and  breakfast  and  gen 
erally  wait  at  dinner." 


The  Tavern  Landlord  67 

An  English  traveller  who  visited  this  country 
shortly  after  the  Revolution  speaks  in  no  uncertain 
terms  of  "  the  uncomplying  temper  of  the  landlords 
of  the  country  inns  in  America."  Another  adds 
this  testimony  :  — 

u  They  will  not  bear  the  treatment  we  too  often  give 
ours  at  home.  They  feel  themselves  in  some  degree  inde 
pendent  of  travellers,  as  all  of  them  have  other  occupations 
to  follow ;  nor  will  they  put  themselves  into  a  bustle  on 
your  account ;  but  with  good  language,  they  are  very  civil, 
and  will  accommodate  you  as  well  as  they  can." 

Brissot  comprehended  the  reason  for  this  appear 
ance  of  independence  ;  he  wrote  in  1788  :- 

u  You  will  not  go  into  one  without  meeting  neatness, 
decency,  and  dignity.  The  table  is  served  by  a  maiden 
well-dressed  and  pretty  ;  by  a  pleasant  mother  whose  age 
has  not  effaced  the  agreeableness  of  her  features  ;  and  by 
men  who  have  that  air  of  respectability  which  is  inspired  by  the 
idea  of  equality,  and  are  not  ignoble  and  base  like  the  greater 
part  of  our  own  tavern-keepers." 

Captain  Basil  Hall,  a  much-quoted  English  trav 
eller  who  came  to  America  in  1827,  designated  a 
Salem  landlord  as  the  person  who  most  pleased  him 
in  his  extended  visit.  Sad  to  say  he  gives  neither 
the  name  of  the  tavern  nor  the  host  who  was  £C  so 
devoid  of  prejudice,  so  willing  to  take  all  matters  on 
their  favourable  side,  so  well  informed  about  every 
thing  in  his  own  and  other  countries,  so  ready  to 
impart  his  knowledge  to  others  ;  had  such  mirth- 
fulness  of  fancy,  such  genuine  heartiness  of  good- 
humour,"  etc. 


68 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


IB  a  ii  Si 


Cooper  Tavern. 

In  1828  a  series  of  very  instructive  and  enter 
taining  letters  on  the  United  States  was  published 
under  the  title,  Notions  of  the  Americans.  They 
are  accredited  to  James  Fenimore  Cooper,  and  were 
addressed  to  various  foreigners  of  distinction.  The 
travels  took  place  in  1824,  at  the  same  time  as  the 
visit  of  Lafayette,  and  frequently  in  his  company. 
Naturally  inns,  hotels,  and  modes  of  travel  receive 
much  attention.  He  speaks  thus  lucidly  and  pleas 
antly  of  the  landlords  :  — 

"  The  innkeeper  of  Old  England  and  the  innkeeper 
of  New  England  form  the  very  extremes  of  their  class. 
The  former  is  obsequious  to  the  rich  ;  the  other  unmoved 
and  often  apparently  cold.  The  first  seems  to  calculate  at 
a  glance  the  amount  of  profit  you  are  likely  to  leave  behind 


The  Tavern  Landlord  69 

you,  while  his  opposite  appears  to  calculate  only  in  what 
manner  he  can  most  contribute  to  your  comfort  without 
materially  impairing  his  own.  ...  He  is  often  a  magis 
trate,  the  chief  of  a  battalion  of  militia  or  even  a  member 
of  a  state  legislature.  He  is  almost  always  a  man  of  char 
acter,  for  it  is  difficult  for  any  other  to  obtain  a  license  to 
exercise  the  calling." 

John  Adams  thus  described  the  host  and  hostess 
of  the  Ipswich  Inn:  — 

"  Landlord  and  landlady  are  some  of  the  grandest  people 
alive,  landlady  is  the  great-granddaughter  of  Governor 
Endicott  and  has  all  the  notions  of  high  family  that  you 
find  in  the  Winslows,  Hutchinsons,  Quincys,  Saltonstalls, 
Chandlers,  Otises,  Learneds,  and  as  you  might  find  with 
more  propriety  in  the  Winthrops.  As  to  landlord,  he  is 
as  happy  and  as  big,  as  proud,  as  conceited,  as  any  noble 
man  in  England,  always  calm  and  good-natured  and  lazy, 
but  the  contemplation  of  his  farm  and  his  sons,  his  house 
and  pasture  and  cows,  his  sound  judgment  as  he  thinks, 
and  his  great  holiness  as  well  as  that  of  his  wife,  keep  him 
as  erect  in  his  thoughts  as  a  noble  or  a  prince." 

The  curiosity  and  inquisitiveness  of  many  land 
lords  was  a  standing  jest. 

"  I  have  heard  Dr.  Franklin  relate  with  great 
pleasantry/*  said  one  of  his  friends,  "  that  in  travel 
ling  when  he  was  young,  the  first  step  he  took  for 
his  tranquillity  and  to  obtain  immediate  attention  at 
the  inns,  was  to  anticipate  inquiry  by  saying,  c  My 
name  is  Benjamin  Franklin.  I  was  born  in  Boston. 
I  am  a  printer  by  profession,  am  travelling  to  Phila 
delphia,  shall  have  to  return  at  such  a  time,  and 


yo  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

have  no  news.  Now,  what  can  you  give  me  for 
dinner  ? ' 

The  landlord  was  usually  a  politician,  sometimes  a 
rank  demagogue.  He  often  held  public  office,  was 
selectman,  road  commissioner,  tax  assessor,  tax  col 
lector,  constable,  or  town  moderator ;  occasionally 
he  performed  all  these  duties.  John  Adams  wrote 
bitterly  that  at  public  houses  men  sat  drinking 
heavily  while  "  plotting  with  the  landlord  to  get 
him  at  the  next  town-meeting  an  election  either  for 
selectman  or  representative." 

They  were  most  frequently  soldiers,  either  officers 
in  the  militia  or  brave  fighters  who  had  served  in 
the  army.  It  was  a  favorite  calling  for  Revolution 
ary  soldiers  who  lived  till  times  of  peace.  They 
were  usually  cheerful  men ;  a  gloomy  landlord  made 
customers  disappear  like  flowers  before  a  frost. 
And  these  cheery  hosts  were  fond  of  practical  jokes. 

One  of  the  old  hotels  with  the  long  piazza  across 
the  entire  front  was  owned  by  a  jesting  landlord 
who  never  failed  to  spring  an  April-fool  joke  on 
his  forgetful  customers  each  year.  The  tavern 
had  two  doors,  and  every  winter  these  were  pro 
tected  by  portable  storm  porches  the  width  of  the 
door  and  about  four  feet  deep.  On  the  first  day  of 
April  the  landlord  moved  the  porches  a  few  feet 
down  the  piazza,  so  they  opened  upon  the  blank 
wall  of  the  house.  The  house  and  piazza  sat  at 
such  an  angle  with  the  walk  from  the  street  that 
the  uncovered  front  doors  were  not  visible  to  the 
visitor,  so  the  delusion  was  complete.  Grocerymen, 
butchers,  bakers,  travellers,  even  the  tavern  servants, 


The  Tavern    Landlord  71 

invariably  fell  into  the  trap,  thrust  open  the  door, 
which  swung  with  a  slam  and  left  them  facing  the 
blank  wall.  Any  tavern  frequenter,  caught  early  in 
the  day,  was  always  ready  to  tole  in  a  group  of  victims. 
As  they  walked  up  the  steps  he  would  say,  "  Come, 
boys,  let's  all  pile  into  the  office  in  a  bunch  and 
holler,  '  Hullo,  old  Jed,'  all  together."  All  agreed 
and  charged  with  a  rush  into  the  4x6  storm  box, 
while  the  plotter  of  the  trick  went  in  the  real  door 
and  sat  coolly  sipping  a  rum  punch  as  the  confused 
and  angry  contingent  came  in  with  battered  hats  "and 
bruised  elbows,  after  its  scuffle  in  the  trap. 


Shelby's  Traveller's  Rest. 


One  landlord  had  the  name  of  frequently  trick 
ing  travellers  who  stopped  for  a  single  meal  by  hav 
ing  the  driver  call  out  "  Stage  is  ready  "  before  they 
could  eat  the  dinner  they  had  ordered  and  paid  for. 
A  Yankee  passenger  disregarded  this  hasty  sum- 


72  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

mons  and  leisurely  ate  his  dinner  while  the  stage 
drove  off  without  him.  He  finished  the  roast  and 
called  at  last  for  a  bowl  of  bread  and  milk  to  top 
off  with  as  dessert.  Not  a  spoon  could  be  found 
for  this  dish,  though  plenty  of  silver  spoons  had 
been  on  the  table  when  the  stage  stopped.  To  the 
distracted  landlord  the  Yankee  drawled  out,  "  Do 
you  think  them  passengers  was  going  away  without 
something  for  their  money  ?  I  could  p'int  out  the 
man  that  took  them  spoons."  A  stable  boy  on  a 
fleet  horse  was  promptly  despatched  after  the  stage, 
and  overtook  it  two  miles  down  the  road.  A  low- 
spoken  explanation  and  request  to  the  driver  caused 
him  to  turn  quickly  around  and  drive  back  to  the 
tavern  door  with  all  the  angry  protesting  passengers. 
The  excited  landlord  called  out  to  the  Yankee  as 
the  coach  stopped,  "  You  just  p'int  out  the  man  that 
took  them  spoons."  —  "  Sartainly,  Squire,"  said  he, 
as  he  climbed  into  the  coach,  "  I'll  p'int  him  out. 
I  took  'em  myself.  You'll  find  'em  all  in  the  big 
coffee  pot  on  the  table.  Hurry  up,  driver,  I've 
had  my  dinner.  All  aboard." 

Grant  Thorburn  quaintly  tells  of  this  custom  at 
another  tavern  ;  — 

"  At  Providence  coaches  were  ready  :  on  flew  through 
the  dust  and  sweat  of  the  day  like  Jehus.  At  the  tavern 
dinner  was  ready,  but  there  was  no  contract  for  time  to 
eat ;  after  grace  from  Dr.  Cox  (too  long  for  the  occasion) 
we  begun  to  eat.  Scarcely  had  I  swallowed  half  my  first 
course  when  in  came  driver  hallowing  "  All  ready."  I 
thought  there  was  a  stable-yard  understanding  between 
him  and  the  landlord,  for  while  we  were  brushing  the  dust 


The  Tavern  Landlord  73 

from  our  clothes,  mustering  and  saying  grace,  he  was  eating 
and  drinking  as  fast  as  he  could,  and  I  did  not  observe  that 
he  paid  anything.  We  arrived  at  the  Eagle  Tavern  (Bos 
ton)  about  sundown ;  the  ladies'  hats  and  frocks  which 
had  shewed  colours  enough  to  have  decked  fifteen  rain 
bows  were  now  one,  viz.  :  ashes  on  ashes  and  dust  on 
dust." 

The  graceless  modern  reader  might  suspect  that 
the  "  stable-yard  understanding "  included  the 
parson. 


Miller's  Tavern. 


A  very  amusing  and  original  landlord  was 
"  Devil  "  Dave  Miller,  of  the  old  General  Wash 
ington  Tavern  which  stood  on  East  King  Street, 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  very  stout  and 
was  generally  seen  in  public  bestriding  an  unusu- 


74  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

ally  small  horse,  which  he  would  ride  into  his  bar 
room  to  get  a  drink  for  both.  When  he  wished  to 
dismount,  he  rode  to  the  doorway  and  hung  on  the 
frame  of  the  door  with  his  hands.  The  horse 
would  walk  from  under  him  and  go  unguided  to  the 
stable.  An  old  print  of  this  tavern  marked  D. 
Miller's  Hotel,  is  shown  on  page  73.  The  various 
vehicles  standing  in  front  of  the  hotel  are  interest 
ing  in  shape,  —  old  chaises,  chairs,  and  a  coach. 

An  old  landlord  named  Ramsay  had  a  spacious 
and  popular  inn  on  a  much-travelled  turnpike  road, 
and  was  the  proprietor  of  a  prosperous  line  of  stage 
coaches.  He  waxed  rich,  but  though  looked  up  to 
by  all  in  the  community,  plainly  showed  by  the 
precarious  condition  of  his  health  in  his  advancing 
years  that  he  partook  too  freely  of  his  own  "  pure 
old  rye."  His  family  and  friends,  though  thoroughly 
alarmed,  did  not  dare  to  caution  the  high-spirited 
old  gentleman  against  this  over-indulgence ;  and 
the  family  doctor  was  deputed  to  deal  with  the 
squire  in  the  most  delicate  and  tactful  manner  pos 
sible.  The  doctor  determined  to  employ  a  parable, 
as  did  Nathan  to  David,  and  felt  confident  of  suc 
cess  ;  and  to  deliver  his  metaphorical  dose  he 
entered  the  taproom  and  cheerfully  engaged  the 
squire  in  conversation  upon  an  ever  favorite  topic, 
the  stage-coach.  He  finally  ran  on  to  know  how 
long  a  well-built  coach  would  last  on  the  road,  and 
then  said  :  "  Now,  Squire,  if  you  had  a  fine  well- 
built  old  coach  that  had  done  good  service,  but 
showed  age  by  being  a  little  shackling,  being  sprung 
a  little,  having  the  seams  open,  would  you  hitch  it 


The  Tavern   Landlord  75 

up  with  young  horses  and  put  it  on  a  rough  road, 
or  would  you  favor  it  with  steady  old  stagers  and 
the  smoothest  road  you  could  find?"  —"Well, 
Doctor,"  answered  the  squire,  "  if  I  had  such  a 
coach  as  that  /  would  soak  it"  And  that  seemed  to 
bring  the  doctor's  parable  to  a  somewhat  sudden 
and  unprofitable  ending. 


CHAPTER  IV 

TAVERN  FARE  AND  TAVERN  WAYS 

IN  the  year  1704  a  Boston  widow  named  Sarah 
Knights  journeyed  "  by  post,"  that  is,  went  on 
horseback,  in  the  company  of  the  government 
postman,  from  Boston  to  New  York,  and  returned 
a  few  months  later.  She  kept  a  journal  of  her  trip, 
and  as  she  was  a  shrewd  woman  with  a  sharp  eye 
and  sharper  tongue,  her  record  is  of  interest.  She 
stopped  at  the  various  hostelries  on  the  route,  some 
of  which  were  well-established  taverns,  others  miser 
able  makeshifts  ;  and  she  gives  us  some  glimpses 
of  rather  rude  fare.  On  the  first  night  of  her  jour 
ney  she  rode  late  to  "  overtake  the  post,"  and  this 
is  the  account  of  her  reception  at  her  first  lodging- 
place  :  — 

"  My  guide  dismounted  and  very  complasently  shewed 
the  door  signing  to  me  to  Go  in,  which  I  Gladly  did.  But 
had  not  gone  many  steps  into  the  room  ere  I  was  interro 
gated  by  a  young  Lady  with  these  or  words  to  this  purpose, 
viz.,  Law  for  mee  —  what  in  the  world  brings  you  here 
this  time-a-night  ?  I  never  see  a  Woman  on  the  Rode  so 
Late  in  all  my  Varsall  Life  !  Who  are  you  ?  Where  are 
you  goeing  ?  Im  scar'd  out  of  my  witts.  .  .  .  She  then 
turned  agen  to  mee  and  fell  anew  into  her  silly  questions 

76 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern   Ways  77 

without  asking  mee  to  sit  down.  I  told  her  she  treated  me 
very  Rudely  and  I  did  not  think  it  my  duty  to  answer  her 
unmannerly  questions.  But  to  get  ridd  of  them  I  told  her 
I  come  there  to  have  the  Posts  company  with  me  to  morrow 
on  my  journey." 

She  thus  describes  one  stopping-place  :  — 

"  I  pray'd  her  to  show  me  where  I  must  lodge.  Shee  con 
ducted  mee  to  a  parlour  in  a  little  back  Lento,  which  was 
almost  filled  with  the  bedstead,  which  was  so  high  that  I  was 
forced  to  climb  on  a  chair  to  gitt  up  to  ye  wretched  bed 
that  lay  on  it,  on  which  having  Strecht  my  tired  Limbs  and 
lay'd  my  Head  on  a  Sad-coloured  pillow,  I  began  to  think 
on  the  transactions  of  ye  past  day." 

At  another  place  she  complained  that  the  dinner 
had  been  boiled  in  the  dye-kettle,  that  the  black 
slaves  ate  at  the  table  with  their  master,  "and  into 
the  dish  goes  the  black  hoof  as  freely  as  the  white 
hand.  .  .  ."  Again  she  says  :  — 

"  We  would  have  eat  a  rnorsell,  but  the  Pumpkin  and 
Indian-mixt  Bread  had  such  an  aspect,  and  the  Bare-legg'd 
Punch  so  awkerd  or  rather  awfull  a  sound  that  we  left 
both." 

At  Rye,  New  York,  she  lodged  at  an  ordinary 
kept  by  a  Frenchman.  She  thus  writes  :  — 

"  Being  very  hungry  I  desired  a  Fricassee  which  the 
landlord  undertaking  managed  so  contrary  to  my  notion  of 
Cookery  that  I  hastened  to  Bed  superless.  Being  shew'd 
the  way  up  a  pair  of  Stairs  which  had  such  a  narrow  pas 
sage  that  I  had  almost  stopt  by  the  Bulk  of  my  Body;  But 
arriving  at  my  Apartment  found  it  to  be  a  little  Lento 


78  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

Chamber  furnisht  among  other  Rubbish  with  a  High  Bedd 
and  a  Low  one,  a  Long  Table,  a  Bench  and  a  Bottomless 
Chair.  Little  Miss  went  to  scratch  up  my  Kennell  whch 
Russelled  as  if  shee'd  bin  in  the  Barn  among  the  Husks 
and  supose  such  was  the  contents  of  the  Tickin  —  never 
theless  being  exceedingly  weary  down  I  laid  my  poor 
Carkes  never  more  tired  and  found  my  Covering  as  -scanty 
as  my  bed  was  hard.  Anon  I  heard  another  Russelling 
noise  in  the  room  —  called  to  know  the  matter — Little 
Miss  said  she  was  making  a  bed  for  the  men;  who  when 
they  were  in  Bed  complain'd  their  Leggs  lay  out  of  it  by 
reason  of  its  shortness  —  my  poor  bones  complained  bitterly 
not  being  used  to  such  Lodgings,  and  so  did  the  man  who 
was  with  us;  and  poor  I  made  but  one  Grone  which  was 
from  the  time  I  went  to  bed  to  the  time  I  riss  which  was 
about  three  in  the  morning  Setting  up  by  the  fire  till  light." 

Manners  were  rude  enough  at  many  country  tav 
erns  until  well  into  the  century.  There  could  be  no 
putting  on  of  airs,  no  exclusiveness.  All  travellers  sat 
at  the  same  table.  Many  of  the  rooms  were  double- 
bedded,  and  four  who  were  strangers  to  each  other 
often  slept  in  each  other's  company. 

An  English  officer  wrote  of  this  custom  in 
America :  — 

u  The  general  custom  of  having  two  or  three  beds  in 
a  room  to  be  sure  is  very  disagreeable  ;  it  arises  from  the 
great  increase  of  travelling  within  the  last  few  years,  and 
the  smallness  of  their  houses,  which  were  not  built  for 
houses  of  entertainment." 

Mr.  Twining  said  that  after  you  were  asleep  the 
landlord  entered,  candle  in  hand,  and  escorted  a 
stranger  to  your  side,  and  he  calmly  shared  the  bed 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways 


79 


till  morning.  Thurlow  Weed  said  that  any  one 
who  objected  to  a  stranger  as  a  bedfellow  was 
regarded  as  obnoxious  and  as  unreasonably  fastidi 
ous.  Still  Captain  Basil  Hall  declared  that  even 
at  remote  taverns  his  family  had  exclusive  apart 
ments;  while  in  crowded  inns  it  was  never  even 


Ellery  Tavern. 

suggested  to  him  that  other  travellers  should  share 
his  quarters. 

Many  old  tavern  account-books  and  bills  exist  to 
show  us  the  price  of  tavern  fare  at  various  dates. 

Mr.  Field  gives  a  bill  of  board  at  the  Bowen  Inn 
at  Barrington,  Rhode  Island.  John  Tripp  and 
his  wife  put  up  at  the  inn  on  the  iith  of  May, 
1776. 


8o  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

t.d. 

"  To  i  Dinner        ......          9 

To  Bread  and  Cheese    .....          7 

To  breakfast  &  dinner  .  .          .          .          .13 

To  i  Bowl  Toddy         .....          9 

To  Lodging  you  and  wife      ....          6 

To  i  y2  Bowl  Toddy i    i 

To  y2  Mug  Cyder i 

To  lodge  self  and  wife  ....          6 

To  i  Gill  Brandy 5 

To  breakfast         .          .          .          .          .          . 

Mug  Cyder 

To  y2  bowl  Toddy       .          .          .          .          . 

Dinner         .......          8 

To  15  Lb  Tobacco  at  6d.      .          .          .          .76 

To  y±  Bowl  Toddy 

To  y2  Mug  Cyder         .          .          .          .          .  1 1^ 

To  Supper  .          .          .          .          .          .          6 " 

I  suppose  the  quarter  bowls  of  toddy  were  for 
Madam  Tripp. 

The  house  known  for  many  years  as  the  Ellery 
Tavern  is  still  standing  in  Gloucester,  Massachu 
setts,  and  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  overhang 
ing  second  story,  as  is  shown  in  the  front  view  of 
it  given  on  page  79  ;  and  also  of  the  lean-to,  or 
sloping-roofed  ell,  which  is  shown  by  the  picture  on 
page  83  of  the  rear  of  the  house.  This  house 
was  built  by  Parson  White  in  1707,  and  afterward 
kept  as  a  tavern  by  James  Stevens  till  1740  ;  then 
it  came  into  the  hands  of  Landlord  Ellery.  As  in 
scores  of  other  taverns  in  other  towns,  the  selectmen 
of  the  town  held  their  meetings  within  its  doors. 
There  were  five  selectmen  in  1744,  and  their  annual 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways  81 

salary  for  transacting  the  town's  business  was  five 
dollars  apiece.  The  tavern  charges,  however,  for 
their  entertainment  amounted  to  ^30,  old  tenor. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  read  in  the  town 
records  of  the  following  year  that  the  citizens  voted 
the  selectmen  a  salary  of  ^5,  old  tenor,  apiece,  and 
"to  find  themselves."  Nevertheless,  in  1749,  there 
was  another  bill  from  the  Ellery  Tavern  of  ^78,  old 
tenor,  for  the  selectmen  who  had  been  sworn  in  the 
year  previously  and  thus  welcomed,  "  Expense  for 
selectmen  and  Licker,  ^£3.  iSs"  The  Ellery 
Tavern  has  seen  many  another  meeting  of  good 
cheer  since  those  days. 

The  selectmen  of  the  town  of  Cambridge,  Massa 
chusetts,  met  at  the  Blue  Anchor  Tavern,  which 
was  established  as  an  ordinary  as  early  as  1652. 
Their  bill  for  1769  runs  thus  :  - 

"  The  Selectmen  of  the  Town  of  Cambridge  to  Eben- 
ezer  Bradish,  Dr.  1769  : 

March,  To  dinners  and  drink  .          .     £o.    17.   8 

April,  To  flip  and  punch        .  .          .          .2. 

May,  To  wine  and  eating       .  .          .          .      6.   8 
May,  To  dinners,  drink  and  suppers  .    18. 

May,  To  flip  and  cheese         .  .1.8 

May,  To  wine  and  flip  .  •     4- 

June,  To  punch  .  .  .      2.   8 

July,  To  punch  and  eating     .  .          .      4. 

August,  To  punch  and  cheese  .  -3-7 

October,  To  punch  and  flip   .  .          «          .     4.   8 

October,  To  dinners  and  drink  .  .  13.   8 

Sundries  .          .          .  •  I2- 

£4.    10.   7" 


82  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

"  Ordination  Day "  was  almost  as  great  a  day 
for  the  tavern  as  for  the  meeting-house.  The 
visiting  ministers  who  came  to  assist  at  the  religious 
service  of  ordination  of  a  new  minister  were  usually 
entertained  at  the  tavern.  Often  a  specially  good 
beer  was  brewed  called  "  ordination  beer,"  and  in 
Connecticut  an  "ordination  ball"  was  given  at  the 
tavern  —  this  with  the  sanction  of  the  parsons. 
The  bills  for  entertaining  the  visitors,  for  the  dinner 
and  lodging  at  the  local  taverns,  are  in  many  cases 
preserved.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  was  at  a 
H:.-tford  ordination.  It  runs  :  — 

£  s.  d. 

"  To  keeping  Ministers         .          .  .          .  2.  4 

2  Mugs  tody    .          .          .  .          .          .  5.  10 

5  Segars  3 

i  Pint  Wine    ......  9 

3  Lodgings       .  ...  9 

3  Bitters  ......  9 

3  Breakfasts     ......  3.    6 

15  boles  Punch          .          .  .  .  .  I.    10 

24  dinners         .          .          .          .  ..  I.    16 

II  bottles  wine          .  3-6 

5  Mugs  flip       .          .  .          .          .  .  5.    10 

5  Boles  Punch  .....  6 

3  Boles  Tody  .          .          .          .          .          .  3-6" 

The  bill  is  endorsed  with  unconscious  humor, 
"This  all  paid  for  except  the  Minis  3  Rum." 

The  book  already  referred  to,  called  Notions  of 
the  Americans •,  tells  of  taverns  during  the  tri 
umphal  tour  of  Lafayette  in  1824.  The  author 
writes  thus  of  the  stage-house,  or  tavern,  on 


Tavern   Fare  and   Tavern   Wavs 


Lean-to  of  Ellery  Tavern. 

the  regular  stage  line.  He  said  he  stopped  at  fifty 
such,  some  not  quite  so  good  and  some  better  than 
the  one  he  chooses  to  describe,  namely,  Bispham's 
at  Trenton,  New  Jersey. 

u  We  were  received  by  the  landlord  with  perfect  civility, 
but  without  the  slightest  shade  of  obsequiousness.  The 
deportment  of  the  innkeeper  was  manly,  courteous,  and 
even  kind  ;  but  there  was  that  in  his  air  which  sufficiently 
proved  that  both  parties  were  expected  to  manifest  the  same 
qualities.  We  were  asked  if  we  all  formed  one  party,  or 
whether  the  gentlemen  who  alighted  from  stage  number 
one  wished  to  be  by  themselves.  We  were  shown  into  a 
neat  well-furnished  little  parlour,  where  our  supper  made 
its  appearance  in  the  course  of  twenty  minutes.  The 
table  contained  many  little  delicacies,  such  as  game,  oysters, 


84  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

and  choice  fish,  and  several  things  were  named  to  us  as  at 
hand  if  needed.  The  tea  was  excellent,  the  coffee  as  usual 
indifferent  enough.  The  papers  of  New  York  and  Phila 
delphia  were  brought  at  our  request,  and  we  sat  with  our 
two  candles  before  a  cheerful  fire  reading  them  as  long  as 
we  pleased.  Our  bed-chambers  were  spacious,  well-fur 
nished,  and  as  neat  as  possible ;  the  beds  as  good  as  one 
usually  finds  them  out  of  France.  Now  for  these  accom 
modations,  which  were  just  as  good  with  one  solitary 
exception  (sanitary)  as  you  would  meet  in  the  better  order 
of  English  provincial  inns,  and  much  better  in  the  quality 
and  abundance  of  the  food,  we  paid  the  sum  of  4*.  6d. 
each." 

A  copy  is  given  opposite  page  86  of  a  bill  of  the 
"  O.  Cromwell's  Head  Tavern  "  of  Boston,  which  was 
made  from  a  plate  engraved  by  Paul  Revere.  This 
tavern  was  kept  for  over  half  a  century  by  members 
of  the  Brackett  family.  It  was  distinctly  the  tav 
ern  of  the  gentry,  and  many  a  distinguished  guest 
had  "  board,  lodging,  and  eating  "  within  its  walls, 
as  well  as  the  wine,  punch,  porter,  and  liquor 
named  on  the  bill.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  an 
cient  measure  —  a  pottle  —  is  here  used.  Twenty 
years  before  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  just  after 
the  crushing  defeat  of  the  British  general,  Brad- 
dock,  in  what  was  then  the  West,  an  intelligent 
young  Virginian  named  George  Washington,  said 
to  be  a  good  engineer  and  soldier,  lodged  at  the 
Cromwell's  Head  Tavern,  while  he  conferred  with 
Governor  Shirley,  the  great  war  Governor  of  the 
day,  on  military  affairs  and  projects.  When  this 
same  Virginian  soldier  entered  Boston  at  the  head 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways  85 

of  a  victorious  army,  he  quartered  his  troops  in 
Governor  Shirley's  mansion  and  grounds. 

The  sign-board  of  this  tavern  bore  a  portrait  of 
the  Lord  Protector,  and  it  is  said  it  was  hung  so 
low  that  all  who  passed  under  it  had  to  make  a 
necessary  reverence. 

While  British  martial  law  prevailed  in  Boston, 
the  grim  head  of  Cromwell  became  distasteful  to 
Tories,  who  turned  one  side  rather  than  walk  under 
the  shadow  of  the  sign-board,  and  at  last  Landlord 
Brackett  had  to  take  down  and  hide  the  obnoxious 
symbol. 

The  English  traveller  Melish  was  loud  in  his 
praise  of  the  taverns  throughout  New  York  State 
as  early  as  1806.  He  noted  at  Little  Falls,  then 
in  the  backwoods,  and  two  hundred  miles  from 
New  York,  that  on  the  breakfast  table  were  "  table 
cloth,  tea  tray,  tea-pots,  milk-pot,  bowls,  cups,  sugar- 
tongs,  teaspoons,  casters,  plates,  knives,  forks,  tea, 
sugar,  cream,  bread,  butter,  steak,  eggs,  cheese, 
potatoes,  beets,  salt,  vinegar,  pepper,"  and  all  for 
twenty-five  cents.  He  said  Johnstown  had  but 
sixty  houses,  of  which  nine  were  taverns. 

Another  English  traveller  told  of  the  fare  in 
American  hotels  in  1807.  While  in  Albany  at 
"  Gregory's,"  which  he  said  was  equal  to  many  of 
the  London  hotels,  he  wrote :  - 

u  It  is  the  custom  in  all  American  taverns,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  to  have  a  sort  of  public  table  at 
which  the  inmates  of  the  house  and  travellers  dine  together 
at  a  certain  hour.  It  is  also  frequented  by  many  single 
gentlemen  belonging  to  the  town.  At  Gregory's  upwards 


86  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

of  thirty  sat  down  to  dinner,  though  there  were  not  more 
than  a  dozen  who  resided  in  the  house.  A  stranger  is  thus 
soon  introduced  to  an  acquaintance  with  the  people,  and  if 
he  is  travelling  alone  he  will  find  at  these  tables  some  relief 
from  the  ennui  of  his  situation.  At  the  better  sort  of 
American  taverns  very  excellent  dinners  are  provided,  con 
sisting  of  almost  everything  in  season.  The  hour  is  from 
two  to  three  o'clock,  and  there  are  three  meals  in  the  day. 
They  breakfast  at  eight  o'clock  upon  rump  steaks,  fish, 
eggs,  and  a  variety  of  cakes  with  tea  or  coffee.  The  last 
meal  is  at  seven  in  the  evening,  and  consists  of  as  substan 
tial  fare  as  the  breakfast,  with  the  addition  of  cold  fowl,  ham, 
&c.  The  price  of  boarding  at  these  houses  is  from  a  dol 
lar  and  a  half  to  two  dollars  per  day.  Brandy,  hollands, 
and  other  spirits  are  allowed  at  dinner,  but  every  other 
liquor  is  paid  for  extra.  English  breakfasts  and  teas,  gen 
erally  speaking,  are  meagre  repasts  compared  with  those 
of  America,  and  as  far  as  I  observed  the  people  live  with 
respect  to  eating  in  a  much  more  luxurious  manner  than 
we  do.  Many  private  families  live  in  the  same  style  as 
at  these  houses  •,  and  have  as  great  variety.  Formerly  pies, 
puddings,  and  cyder  used  to  grace  the  breakfast  table,  but 
now  they  are  discarded  from  the  genteeler  houses,  and  are 
found  only  in  the  small  taverns  and  farm-houses  in  the 
country." 

In  spite  of  the  vast  number  of  inns  in  Philadel 
phia,  another  English  gentleman  bore  testimony  in 
1823  that  he  deemed  the  city  ill-provided  with  hos- 
telries.  This  gentleman  "  put  up  "  at  the  Mansion 
House,  which  was  the  splendid  Bingham  Mansion 
on  Third  Street.  He  wrote:  — 

"The  tavern-keepers  will  not  receive  you  on  any  other 
terms  except  boarded  at  so  much  a  day  or  week  ;  you  can- 


/4w 

•vJstf/a/n/z 

/>./  y 

&&€MlQ 

s^Oc? 

Wine 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways  87 

not  have  your  meals  by  yourself,  or  at  your  own  hours. 
This  custom  of  boarding  I  disliked  very  much.  The  terms 
are,  however,  very  moderate,  only  ten  dollars  per  week. 
The  table  is  always  spread  with  the  greatest  profusion  and 
variety,  even  at  breakfast,  supper,  and  tea ;  all  of  which 
meals  indeed  were  it  not  for  the  absence  of  wine  and  soup, 
might  be  called  so  many  dinners." 

There  lies  before  me  a  collection  of  twoscore  old 
hotel  bills  of  fare  about  a  half  century  old.  They 
are  of  dates  when  stage-coaching  had  reached  its 
highest  point  of  perfection,  and  the  coaching  tavern 
its  glory.  There  were  railroads,  —  comparatively 
few  lines,  however,  —  but  they  had  not  destroyed 
the  constant  use  of  coaches. 

These  hotels  were  the  best  of  their  kind  in  the 
country,  such  as  the  United  States  Hotel  of  Phila 
delphia,  Foley's  National  Hotel  of  Norfolk,  Vir 
ginia,  Union  Place  Hotel  and  New  York  Hotel  of 
New  York,  Union  Hotel  of  Richmond,  Virginia, 
American  House  of  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
Dorsey's  Exchange  Hotel  and  Barnum's  City  Hotel 
of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  the  Troy  House,  the  Trem- 
ont  House  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  etc.  At  this 
time  all  have  become  hotels  and  houses,  not  a  tavern 
nor  an  inn  is  among  them. 

The  menus  are  printed  on  long  narrow  slips  of 
poor  paper,  not  on  cardboard ;  often  the  names  of 
many  of  the  dishes  are  written  in.  They  show 
much  excellence  and  variety  in  quality,  and  abundant 
quantity;  they  are,  I  think,  as  good  as  hotels  of 
similar  size  would  offer  to-day.  There  are  more 
boiled  meats  proportionately  than  would  be  served 


88  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

now,  and  fewer  desserts.  Here  is  what  the  Ameri 
can  House  of  Springfield  had  for  its  guests  on 
October  2,  1851  :  Mock-turtle  soup;  boiled  blue- 
fish  with  oyster  sauce ;  boiled  chickens  with  oyster 
sauce ;  boiled  mutton  with  caper  sauce  ;  boiled 
tongue,  ham,  corned  beef  and  cabbage ;  boiled 
chickens  with  pork;  roast  beef,  lamb,  chickens,  veal, 
pork,  and  turkey;  roast  partridge;  fricasseed  chicken, 
oyster  patties,  chicken  pie,  boiled  r;ce,  macaroni ; 
apple,  squash,  mince,  custard,  and  peach  pies;  boiled 
custard ;  blanc  mange,  tapioca  pudding,  peaches, 
nuts,  and  raisins.  Vegetables  were  not  named ; 
doubtless  every  autumnal  vegetable  was  served. 

At  the  Union  Place  Hotel  in  1850  the  vegetables 
were  mashed  potatoes,  Irish  potatoes,  sweet  pota 
toes,  boiled  rice,  onions,  tomatoes,  squash,  cauli 
flower,  turnips,  and  spinach.  At  the  United  States 
Hotel  in  Philadelphia  the  variety  was  still  greater, 
and  there  were  twelve  entrees.  The  Southern  hotels 
offered  nine  entrees,  and  egg-plant  appears  among 
the  vegetables.  The  wine  lists  are  ample  ;  those  of 
1840  might  be  of  to-day,  that  is,  in  regard  to  famil 
iar  names  ;  but  the  prices  were  different.  Mumm's 
champagne  was  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  quart; 
Ruinard  and  Cliquot  two  dollars ;  the  best  Sauterne 
a  dollar  a  quart;  Rudesheimer  1811,  and  Hock- 
heimer,  two  dollars  ;  clarets  were  higher  priced,  and 
Burgundies.  Madeiras  were  many  in  number,  and 
high  priced  ;  Constantia  (twenty  years  in  glass) 
and  Diploma  (forty  years  in  wood)  were  six  dollars 
a  bottle.  At  Barnum's  Hotel  there  were  Madeiras 
at  ten  dollars  a  bottle,  sherries  at  five,  hock  at  six; 


Tavern   Fare  and  Tavern  Ways 


this  hotel  offered  thirty 
choice  Madeiras — and 
these  dinners  were 
served  at  two  o'clock. 
Corkage  was  a  dollar. 
Certain  taverns  were 
noted  for  certain  fare, 
for  choice  modes  of 
cooking  special  delica 
cies.  One  was  resorted 
to  for  boiled  trout,  an 
other  for  planked  shad. 
Travellers  rode  miles 
out  of  their  way  to  have 
at  a  certain  hostelry 
calves-head  soup,  a 
most  elaborate  and  te 
dious  dish  if  properly 
prepared,  and  a  costly 
one,  with  its  profuse 
wine,  but  as  appetizing 
and  rich  as  it  is  diffi 
cult  of  making.  More 
humble  taverns  with 
simpler  materials  but 
good  cooks  had  won 
derful  johnny-cakes, 
delightful  waffles,  or 
even  specially  good 
mush  and  milk.  Cer 
tain  localities  afforded 
certain  delicacies  ;  sal- 


Bill  of  Fare  of  City   Hotel. 


90  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

mon  in  one  river  town,  and  choice  oysters.  One 
landlord  raised  and  killed  his  own  mutton  ;  another 
prided  himself  on  ducks.  Another  cured  his  own 
hams.  An  old  Dutch  tavern  was  noted  for  rolliches 
and  head-cheese. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  turtle-feasts  were 
eagerly  attended  —  or  turtle-frolics  as  they  were 
called.  A  travelling  clergyman  named  Burnaby 
wrote  in  1759  :  — 

"  There  are  several  taverns  pleasantly  situated  upon  East 
River,  near  New  York,  where  it  is  common  to  have  these 
turtle-feasts.  These  happen  once  or  twice  a  week.  Thirty 
or  forty  gentlemen  and  ladies  meet  and  dine  together,  drink 
tea  in  the  afternoon,  fish,  and  amuse  themselves  till  even 
ing,  and  then  return  home  in  Italian  chaises,  a  gentleman 
and  lady  in  each  chaise.  On  the  way  there  is  a  bridge, 
about  three  miles  distant  from  New  York,  which  you 
always  pass  over  as  you  return,  called  the  Kissing  Bridge, 
where  it  is  part  of  the  etiquette  to  salute  the  lady  who  has 
put  herself  under  your  protection." 

Every  sea-captain  who  sailed  to  the  West  Indies 
was  expected  to  bring  home  a  turtle  on  the  return 
voyage  for  a  feast  to  his  expectant  friends.  A  turtle 
was  deemed  an  elegant  gift ;  usually  a  keg  of  limes 
accompanied  the  turtle,  for  lime-juice  was  deemed 
the  best  of  all  "  sourings  "  for  punch.  In  Newport 
a  Guinea  Coast  negro  named  CufTy  Cockroach,  the 
slave  of  Mr.  Jahleel  Brenton,  was  deemed  the  prince 
of  turtle  cooks.  He  was  lent  far  and  wide  for  these 
turtle-feasts,  and  was  hired  out  at  taverns. 

Near  Philadelphia  catfish  suppers  were  popular. 
Mendenhall  Ferry  Tavern  was  on  the  Schuylkill 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways  91 

River  about  two  miles  below  the  Falls.  It  was  oppo 
site  a  ford  which  landed  on  the  east  side,  and  from 
which  a  lane  ran  up  to  the  Ridge  Turnpike.  This 
lane  still  remains  between  the  North  and  South 
Laurel  Hill  cemeteries,  just  above  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia.  Previous  to  the  Revolution  the  ferry  was 
known  as  Garrigue's  Ferry.  A  cable  was  stretched 
across  the  stream  ;  by  it  a  flatboat  with  burdens 
was  drawn  from  side  to  side.  The  tavern  was  the 
most  popular  catfish-supper  tavern  on  the  river 
drive.  Waffles  were  served  with  the  catfish.  A 
large  Staffordshireware  platter,  printed  in  clear,  dark, 
beautiful  blue,  made  by  the  English  potter,  Stubbs, 
shows  this  ferry  and  tavern,  with  its  broad  piazza, 
and  the  river  with  its  row  of  poplar  trees.  It  is 
shown  on  page  93.  Burnaby  enjoyed  the  catfish- 
suppers  as -much  as  the  turtle-feasts,  but  I  doubt  if 
there  was  a  Kissing  Bridge  in  Philadelphia. 
K  Many  were  the  good  reasons  that  could  be  given 
to  explain  and  justify  attendance  at  an  old-time 
tavern  ;  one  was  the  fact  that  often  the  only  news 
paper  that  came  to  town  was  kept  therein.  This 
dingy  tavern  sheet  often  saw  hard  usage,  for  when 
it  went  its  rounds  some  could  scarce  read  it,  some 
but  pretend  to  read  it.  One  old  fellow  in  New- 
buryport  opened  it  wide,  gazed  at  it  with  interest, 
and  cried  out  to  his  neighbor  in  much  excitement : 
"  Bad  news.  Terrible  gales,  terrible  gales,  ships  all 
bottom  side  up,"  as  indeed  they  were,  in  his  way  of 
holding  the  news  sheet. 

The    extent   and   purposes   to  which   the  tavern 
sheet  might  be   applied   can  be  guessed   from  the 


92  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

notice  written  over  the  mantel-shelf  of  one  taproom, 
"  Gentlemen  learning  to  spell  are  requested  to  use 
last  week's  newsletter." 

The  old  taverns  saw  many  rough  jokes.  Often 
there  was  a  tavern  butt  on  whom  all  played  practi 
cal  jokes.  These  often  ended  in  a  rough  fight. 
The  old  Collin's  Tavern  shown  on  page  97  was 
in  coaching  days  a  famous  tavern  in  Naugatuck  on 
the  road  between  New  Haven  and  Litchfield.  One 
of  the  hostlers  at  this  tavern,  a  burly  negro,  was  the 
butt  of  all  the  tavern  hangers-on,  and  a  great 
source  of  amusement  to  travellers.  His  chief 
accomplishment  was  "  bunting."  He  bragged  that 
he  could  with  a  single  bunt  break  down  a  door, 
overturn  a  carriage,  or  fell  a  horse.  One  night  a 
group  of  jokers  promised  to  give  him  all  the 
cheeses  he  could  bunt  through.  He  bunted  holes 
through  three  cheeses  on  the  tavern  porch,  and 
then  was  offered  a  grindstone,  which  he  did  not 
perceive  either  by  his  sense  of  sight  or  feeling  to  be 
a  stone  until  his  alarmed  tormentors  forced  him  to 
desist  for  fear  he  might  kill  himself. 

A  picturesque  and  grotesque  element  of  tavern 
life  was  found  in  those  last  leaves  on  the  tree,  the 
few  of  Indian  blood  who  lingered  after  the  tribes 
were  scattered  and  nearly  all  were  dead.  These 
tawnies  could  not  be  made  as  useful  in  the  tavern 
yard  as  the  shiftless  and  shifting  negro  element  that 
also  drifted  to  the  tavern,  for  the  Eastern  Indian 
never  loved  a  horse  as  did  the  negro,  and  seldom 
became  handy  in  the  care  of  horses.  These  waifs 
of  either  race,  and  half-breeds  of  both  races,  circled 


Tavern   Fare  and  Tavern  Ways 


93 


around  the  tavern  chiefly  because  a  few  stray  pen 
nies  might  be  earned  there,  and  also  because  within 
the  tavern  were  plentiful  supplies  of  cider  and 


rum. 


Almost  every   community  had  two   or  three  of 
these  semi-civilized  Indian  residents,  who  performed 


Mendenhail  Ferry  Platter. 

some  duties  sometimes,  but  who  often  in  the  sum 
mer,  seized  with  the  spirit  of  their  fathers  or  the 
influence  of  their  early  lives,  wandered  off  for 
weeks  and  months,  sometimes  selling  brooms  and 
baskets,  sometimes  reseating  chairs,  oftener  work 
ing  not,  simply  tramping  trustfully,  sure  of  food 
whenever  they  asked  for  it.  It  is  curious  to  note 
how  industrious,  orderly  Quaker  and  Puritan  house- 


94  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

wives  tolerated  the  laziness,  ofFensiveness,  and  ex 
cesses  of  these  half-barbarians.  Their  uncouth- 
ness  was  endured  when  they  were  in  health,  and 
when  they  fell  sick  they  were  cared  for  with  some 
what  the  same  charity  and  forbearance  that  would 
be  shown  a  naughty,  unruly  child. 

Often  the  landlady  of  the  tavern  or  the  mistress 
of  the  farm-house,  bustling  into  her  kitchen  in  the 
gray  dawn,  would  find  a  sodden  Indian  sleeping  on 
the  floor  by  the  fireplace,  sometimes  a  squaw  and 
pappoose  by  his  side.  If  the  kitchen  door  had  no 
latch-string  out,  the  Indian  would  crawl  into  the 
hay  in  the  barn  ;  but  wherever  he  slept,  he  always 
found  his  way  to  the  kitchen  in  good  time  for  an 
ample  breakfast. 

Indian  women  often  proved  better  helpers  than 
the  men.  One  Deb  Browner  lived  a  severely 
respectable  life  all  winter,  ever  ready  to  help  in  the 
kitchen  of  the  tavern  if  teamsters  demanded  meals; 
always  on  hand  to  help  dip  candles  in  early  winter, 
and  make  soap  in  early  spring ;  and  her  strong 
arms  never  tired.  But  when  early  autumn  tinted 
the  trees,  and  on  came  the  hunting  season,  she  tore 
off  her  respectable  calico  gown  and  apron,  kicked 
off  her  shoes  and  stockings,  and  with  black  hair 
hanging  wild,  donned  moccasins  and  blanket,  and 
literally  fled  to  the  woods  for  a  breath  of  life,  for 
freedom.  She  took  her  flitting  unseen  in  the  night, 
but  twice  was  she  noted  many  miles  away  by  folk 
who  knew  her,  tramping  steadily  northward,  bear 
ing  by  a  metomp  of  bark  around  her  forehead  a 
heavy  burden  in  a  blanket. 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways  95 

j 

One  Sabbath  morning  in  May  a  travelling  team 
ster  saw  her  in  her  ultra-civilized  state  on  her  way 
home  from  meeting,  crowned,  not  only  with  a  dis 
creet  bonnet,  but  with  a  long  green  veil  hanging 
down  her  back.  She  was  entering  the  tavern  door 
to  know  whether  they  wished  her  to  attack  the  big 
spring  washing  and  bleaching  the  following  day. 
"  Hello,  Teppamoy  !  "  he  said,  staring  at  her,  "  how 
came  you  here  and  in  them  clothes  ? "  Scowling 
fiercely,  she  walked  on  in  haughty  silence,  while  the 
baffled  teamster  told  a  group  of  tavern  loafers  that 
he  had  been  a  lumberman,  and  some  years  there 
came  to  the  camp  in  Maine  a  wild  old  squaw  named 
Teppamoy  who  raised  the  devil  generally,  but  the 
constable  had  never  caught  her,  and  that  she  "  looked 
enough  like  that  Mis'  Browner  to  be  her  sister." 

Another  half-breed  Indian,  old  Tuggie  Bannocks, 
lived  in  old  Narragansett.  She  was  as  much  negro 
as  Indian  and  was  reputed  to  be  a  witch  ;  she  cer 
tainly  had  some  unusual  peculiarities,  the  most 
marked  being  a  full  set  of  double  teeth  all  the  way 
round,  and  an  absolute  refusal  ever  to  sit  on  a 
chair,  sofa,  stool,  or  anything  that  was  intended  to 
be  sat  upon.  She  would  sit  on  a  table,  or  a  churn, 
or  a  cradle-head,  or  squat  on  the  floor ;  or  she 
would  pull  a  drawer  out  of  a  high  chest  and  recline 
on  the  edge  of  that.  It  was  firmly  believed  that  in 
her  own  home  she  hung  by  her  heels  on  the  oaken 
chair  rail  which  ran  around  the  room.  She  lived 
in  the  only  roofed  portion  of  an  old  tumble-down 
house  that  had  been  at  one  time  a  tavern,  and  she 
bragged  that  she  could  "  raise  "  every  one  who  had 


96  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

ever  stopped  at  that  house  as  a  guest,  and  often  did 
so  for  company.  Oh  !  what  a  throng  of  shadows, 
some  fair  of  face,  some  dark  of  life,  would  have 
filled  the  dingy  tavern  at  her  command  !  I  have 
told  some  incidents  of  her  life  in  my  Old  Narra- 
gansett,  so  will  no  longer  keep  her  dusky  presence 
here. 

Other  Indian  "  walk-abouts,"  as  tramps  were 
called,  lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Maiden,  Massachu 
setts  ;  old  "  Moll  Grush,"  who  fiercely  resented  her 
nickname;  Deb  Saco  the  fortune-teller, whose  "coun 
terfeit  presentment  "  can  be  seen  in  the  East  Indian 
Museum  at  Salem  ;  Squaw  Shiner,  who  died  from 
being  blown  off  a  bridge  in  a  gale,  and  who  was 
said  to  be  "  a  faithful  friend,  a  sharp  enemy,  a  judge 
of  herbs,  a  weaver  of  baskets,  and  a  lover  of  rum." 

Another  familiar  and  marked  character  was  Sarah 
Boston.  I  have  taken  the  incidents  of  her  life  from 
The  Hundredth  Town,  where  it  is  told  so  graphi 
cally.  She  lived  on  Keith  Hill  in  Grafton,  Massa 
chusetts,  an  early  "  praying  town  "  of  the  Indians. 
A  worn  hearthstone  and  doorstone,  surrounded 
now  by  green  grass  and  shadowed  by  dying  lilacs, 
still  show  the  exact  spot  where  once  stood  her  hum 
ble  walls,  where  once  "  her  garden  smiled." 

The  last  of  the  Hassanamiscoes  (a  noble  tribe  of 
the  Nipmuck  race,  first  led  to  Christ  in  1654  by  that 
gentle  man  John  Eliot,  the  Apostle  to  the  Indians), 
she  showed  in  her  giant  stature,  her  powerful  frame, 
her  vast  muscular  power,  no  evidence  of  a  debilitated 
race  or  of  enfeebled  vitality.  It  is  said  she  weighed 
over  three  hundred  pounds.  Her  father  was  Boston 


Tavern   Fare  and  Tavern  Ways 


97 


Phillips,  also  told  of  in  story  and  tradition  for  his 
curious  ways  and  doings.  Sarah  dressed  in  short 
skirts,  a  man's  boots  and  hat,  a  heavy  spencer  (which 
was  a  man's  wear  in  those  days  ) ;  and,  like  a  true 
Indian,  always  wore  a  blanket  over  her  shoulders  in 
winter.  She  was  mahogany-red  of  color,  with 
coarse  black  hair,  high  cheek-bones,  and  all  the  char- 


Collin's  Tavern. 


acteristic  features  of  her  race.  Her  great  strength 
and  endurance  made  her  the  most  desired  farm-hand 
in  the  township  to  be  employed  in  haying  time,  in 
wall-building,  or  in  any  heavy  farm  work.  Her  fill 
of  cider  was  often  her  only  pay  for  some  powerful 
feat  of  strength,  such  as  stone-lifting  or  stump-pull 
ing.  At  her  leisure  times  in  winter  she  made 
and  peddled  baskets  in  true  Indian  fashion,  and  told 


9 8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

improbable  and  baseless  fortunes,  and  she  begged 
cider  at  the  tavern,  and  drank  cider  everywhere. 
"  The  more  I  drink  the  drier  I  am,"  was  a  favorite 
expression  of  hers.  Her  insolence  and  power  of 
abuse  made  her  dreaded  for  domestic  service,  though 
she  freely  entered  every  home,  and  sat  smoking  and 
glowering  for  hours  in  the  chimney  corner  of  the 
tavern  ;  but  in  those  days  of  few  house-servants  and 
scant  "  help,"  she  often  had  to  be  endured  that  she 
might  assist  the  tired  farm  wife  or  landlady. 

A  touch  of  grim  humor  is  found  in  this  tale  of 
her  —  the  more  humorous  because,  in  spite  of 
Apostle  Eliot  and  her  Christian  forbears,  she  was 
really  a  most  godless  old  heathen.  She  tended  with 
care  her  little  garden,  whose  chief  ornament  was  a 
fine  cherry  tree  bearing  luscious  blackhearts,  while 
her  fellow-townsmen  had  only  sour  Morellos 
growing  in  their  yards.  Each  year  the  sons  of 
her  white  neighbors,  unrestrained  by  her  threats  and 
entreaties,  stripped  her  tree  of  its  toothsome  and 
beautiful  crop  before  Sarah  Boston  could  gather  it. 
One  year  the  tree  hung  heavy  with  a  specially  full 
crop  ;  the  boys  watched  eagerly  and  expectantly  the 
glow  deepening  on  each  branch,  through  tinted  red 
to  dark  wine  color,  when  one  morning  the  sound  of 
a  resounding  axe  was  heard  in  Sarah's  garden,  and 
a  passer-by  found  her  with  powerful  blows  cutting 
down  the  heavily  laden  tree.  "  Why,  Sarah,"  he 
asked  in  surprise,  "why  are  you  cutting  down  your 
splendid  great  cherry  tree  ?  "  — "  It  shades  the 
house,"  she  growled;  "I  can't  see  to  read  my 
Bible." 


Tavern  Fare  and  Tavern  Ways  99 

A  party  of  rollicking  Yankee  blades,  bold  with 
tavern  liquor,  pounded  one  night  on  the  wooden 
gate  of  the  old  Grafton  burying-ground,  and  called 
out  in  profane  and  drunken  jest,  "  Arise,  ye  dead, 
the  judgment  day  is  come."  Suddenly  from  one 
of  the  old  graves  loomed  up  in  the  dark  the  gigantic 
form  of  Sarah  Boston,  answering  in  loud  voice, 
"Yes,  Lord,  I  am  coming."  Nearly  paralyzed  with 
fright,  the  drunken  fellows  fled,  stumbling  with 
dismay  before  this  terrifying  and  unrecognized 
apparition. 

Mrs.  Forbes  ends  the  story  of  Sarah  Boston 
with  a  beautiful  thought.  The  old  squaw  now  lies 
at  rest  in  the  same  old  shadowy  burial  place  —  no 
longer  the  jest  and  gibe  of  jeering  boys,  the  de 
spised  and  drunken  outcast.  Majestic  with  the  calm 
dignity  of  death,  she  peacefully  sleeps  by  the  side 
of  her  white  neighbors.  At  the  dawn  of  the  last 
day  may  she  once  more  arise,  and  again  answer  with 
clear  voice,  "  Yes,  Lord,  I  am  coming." 


CHAPTER   V 

3EVIL  "    AND     ITS    AFFINES 

ANY    account    of    old-time    travel    by    stage 
coach     and     lodging    in    old-time     taverns 
would  be  incomplete  without  frequent  ref 
erence   to    that  universal  accompaniment   of  travel 
and  tavern  sojourn,  that  most  American  of  comfort 
ing  stimulants  —  rum. 

The  name  is  doubtless  American.  A  manu 
script  description  of  Barbadoes,  written  twenty-five 
years  after  the  English  settlement  of  the  island  in 
1651,  is  thus  quoted  in  The  Academy  :  "The  chief 
fudling  they  make  in  the  island  is  Rumbullion, 
alias  Kill-Divil,  and  this  is  made  of  sugar  canes  dis 
tilled,  a  hot,  hellish,  and  terrible  liquor."  This  is 
the  earliest-known  allusion  to  the  liquor  rum  ;  the 
word  is  held  by  some  antiquaries  in  what  seems 
rather  a  strained  explanation  to  be  the  gypsy  rum, 
meaning  potent,  or  mighty.  The  word  rum  was  at 
a  very  early  date  adopted  and  used  as  English  uni 
versity  slang.  The  oldest  American  reference  to 
the  word  rum  (meaning  the  liquor)  which  I  have 
found  is  in  the  act  of  the  General  Court  of  Massa 
chusetts  in  May,  1657,  prohibiting  the  sale  of  strong 
liquors  "  whether  knowne  by  the  name  of  rumme, 

100 


"Kill-devil"  and  its  Affines  10.1 

strong  water,  wine,  brandy,  etc.,  etc."  The  traveller 
Josselyn  wrote  of  it,  terming  it  that  "  cursed  liquor 
rhum,  rumbullion  or  kill-devil."  English  sailors 
still  call  their  grog  rumbowling.  But  the  word 
rum  in  this  word  and  in  rumbooze  and  in  rumfus- 
tian  did  not  mean  rum  ;  it  meant  the  gypsy  adjective 
powerful.  Rumbooze  or  rambooze,  distinctly  a 
gypsy  word,  and  an  English  university  drink  also,  is 
made  of  eggs,  ale,  wine,  and  sugar.  Rumfustian 
was  made  of  a  quart  of  strong  beer,  a  bottle  of  white 
wine  or  sherry,  half  a  pint  of  gin,  the  yolks  of 
twelve  eggs,  orange  peel,  nutmeg,  spices,  and  sugar. 
Rum-barge  is  another  mixed  drink  of  gypsy  name. 
It  will  be  noted  that  none  of  these  contains  any 
rum. 

In  some  localities  in  America  rum  was  called  in 
early  days  Barbadoes-liquor,  a  very  natural  name, 
occasionally  also  Barbadoes-brandy.  The  Indians 
called  it  ocuby,  or  as  it  was  spelled  in  the  Norridge- 
wock  tongue,  ah-coobee.  Many  of  the  early  white 
settlers  called  it  by  the  same  name.  Kill-devil  was 
its  most  universal  name,  not  only  a  slang  name, 
but  a  trading-term  used  in  bills  of  sale.  A  descrip 
tion  of  Surinam  written  in  1651  says:  "Rhum 
made  from  sugar-canes  is  called  kill-devil  in  New 
England."  At  thus  early  a  date  had  the  manufac 
ture  of  rum  become  associated  with  New  England. 

The  Dutch  in  New  York  called  the  liquor 
brandy-wine,  and  soon  in  that  colony  wherever 
strong  waters  were  named  in  tavern  lists,  the 
liquor  was  neither  aqua  vitae  nor  gin  nor  brandy, 
but  New  England  rum. 


102 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


It  soon  was  cheap  enough.  Rev.  Increase 
Mather,  the  Puritan  parson,  wrote,  in  1686:  "It 
is  an  unhappy  thing  that  in  later  years  a  Kind  of 
Drink  called  Rum  has  been  common  among  us. 
They  that  are  poor  and  wicked,  too,  can  for  a  penny 
make  themselves  drunk."  From  old  account-books, 
bills  of  lading,  grocers'  bills,  family  expenses,  etc., 


Old  Rum  Bottles. 


we  have  the  price  of  rum  at  various  dates,  and  find 
that  his  assertion  was  true. 

In  1673  Barbadoes  rum  was  worth  6s.  a  gallon. 
In  1687  its  price  had  vastly  fallen,  and  New  Eng 
land  rum  sold  for  is.  6d.  a  gallon.  In  1692  is.  a 
gallon  was  the  regular  price.  In  1711  the  price  was 
3J.  j^/.  In  1757,  as  currency  grew  valueless,  it 
was  iis.  a  gallon.  In  1783  only  a  little  over  a 
shilling ;  then  it  was  but  8<^.  a  quart.  During  this 


"Kill-devil"  and  its  Affines  103 

time  the  average  cost  of  molasses  in  the  West  In 
dies  was  lid.  a  gallon;  so,  though  the  distillery 
plant  for  its  production  was  costly,  it  can  be  seen 
that  the  profits  were  great. 

Burke  said  about  1750  :  "  The  quantity  of  spirits 
which  they  distill  in  Boston  from  the  molasses  which 
they  import  is  as  surprising  as  the  cheapness  at 
which  they  sell  it,  which  is  under  two  shillings  a 
gallon ;  but  they  are  more  famous  for  the  quantity 
and  cheapness  than  for  the  excellency  of  their  rum." 
An  English  traveller  named  Bennet  wrote  at  the 
same  date  of  Boston  society  :  "  Madeira  wine  and 
rum  punch  are  the  liquors  they  drink  in  common." 
Baron  Riedesel,  who  commanded  the  foreign  troops 
in  America  during  the  Revolution,  wrote  of  the 
New  England  inhabitants :  "  Most  of  the  males 
have  a  strong  passion  for  strong  drink,  especially 
rum."  While  President  John  Adams  said  causti 
cally :  "If  the  ancients  drank  wine  as  our  people 
drink  rum  and  cider,  it  is  no  wonder  we  hear  of  so 
many  possessed  with  devils  ;  "  yet  he  himself,  to  the 
end  of  his  life,  always  began  the  day  with  a  tankard 
of  hard  cider  before  breakfast. 

The  Dutch  were  too  constant  beer  drinkers  to 
become  with  speed  great  rum  consumers,  and  they 
were  too  great  lovers  of  gin  and  schnapps.  But 
they  deprecated  the  sharp  and  intolerant  prohibition 
of  the  sale  of  rum  to  the  Indians,  saying :  "  To 
prohibit  all  strong  liquor  to  them  seems  very  hard 
and  very  Turkish.  Rum  doth  as  little  hurt  as  the 
Frenchman's  Brandie,  and  in  the  whole  is  much 
more  wholesome."  The  English  were  fiercely 


104  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

abhorrent  of  intemperance  among  the  Indians,  and 
court  records  abound  in  laws  restraining  the  sale  of 
rum  to  the  "  bloudy  salvages,"  of  prosecutions  and 
fines  of  white  traders  who  violated  these  laws,  and 
of  constant  and  fierce  punishment  of  the  thirsty 
red  men,  who  simply  tried  to  gratify  an  appetite 
instilled  in  them  by  the  English. 

William  Penn  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Sutherland 
in  1683  :  "Ye  Dutch,  Sweed,  and  English  have  by 
Brandy  and  Specially  Rum,  almost  Debaucht  ye 
Indians  all.  When  Drunk  ye  most  Wretched  of 
Spectacles.  They  had  been  very  Tractable  but 
Rum  is  so  dear  to  them." 

Rum  formed  the  strong  intoxicant  of  all  popular 
tavern  drinks;  many  are  still  mixed  to-day.  Toddy, 
sling,  grog,  are  old-time  concoctions. 

A  writer  for  the  first  Galaxy  thus  parodied  the 
poem,  /  knew  by  the  smoke  that  so  gracefully  curled :  — 

"I  knew  by  the  pole  that's  so  gracefully  crown' d 

Beyond  the  old  church,  that  a  tavern  was  near, 

And  I  said  if  there's  black-strap  on  earth  to  be  found, 

A  man  who  had  credit  might  hope  for  it  here." 

Josiah  Quincy  said  that  black-strap  was  a  com 
position  of  which  the  secret,  he  fervently  hoped, 
reposed  with  the  lost  arts.  Its  principal  ingredients 
were  rum  and  molasses,  though  there  were  other 
simples  combined  with  it.  He  adds,  "  Of  all  the 
detestable  American  drinks  on  which  our  inventive 
genius  has  exercised  itself,  this  black-strap  was  truly 
the  most  outrageous." 

Casks   of  it    stood   in    every    country    store   and 


"  Kill-devil  '*   and  its  Affines  105 

tavern,  a  salted  cod-fish  hung  alongside,  slyly  to 
tempt  by  thirst  additional  purchasers  of  black-strap. 
"  Calibogus,"  or  "  bogus,"  was  unsweetened  rum 
and  beer. 

Mimbo,  sometimes  abbreviated  to  mini,  was  a 
drink  made  of  rum  and  loaf-sugar  —  and  possibly 
water.  The  "  Rates  in  Taverns "  fixed  in  York 
County  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1752,  for  "the  protect 
ing  of  travellers  against  the  extortions  of  tavern- 
keepers,"  gives  its  price  :  — 

"  i  Quart  Mimbo  made  best  W.  I.  Rum 

and  Loaf:  .          .  iod. 

I  Quart  Mimbo,  made  of  New  England 

Rum  and  Loaf:     .  9^." 

Many  years  ago,  one  bitter  winter  day,  there 
stepped  down  from  a  rocking  mail-coach  into  the 
Washington  Tavern  in  a  Pennsylvania  town,  a  dash 
ing  young  man  who  swaggered  up  to  the  bar  and 
bawled  out  for  a  drink  of  "  Scotchem."  The  land 
lord  was  running  here  and  there,  talking  to  a  score 
of  people  and  doing  a  score  of  things  at  once,  and 
he  called  to  his  son,  a  lubberly,  countrified  young 
fellow,  to  give  the  gentleman  his  Scotchem.  The 
boy  was  but  a  learner  in  the  taproom,  but  he  was  a 
lad  of  few  words,  so  he  hesitatingly  mixed  a  glass  of 
hot  water  and  Scotch  whiskey,  which  the  traveller 
scarcely  tasted  ere  he  roared  out :  "  Don't  you 
know  what  Scotchem  is  ?  Apple-jack,  and  boiling 
water,  and  a  good  dash  of  ground  mustard.  Here's 
a  shilling  to  pay  for  it."  The  boy  stared  at  the 
uninviting  recipe,  but  faithfully  compounded  it, 


106  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

when  toot-toot  sounded  the  horn  —  the  coach  waited 
for  no  man,  certainly  not  for  a  man  to  sip  a  scald 
ing  drink  —  and  such  a  drink,  and  off  in  a  trice 
went  full  coach  and  empty  traveller.  The  young 
tapster  looked  dubiously  at  the  great  mug  of  steam 
ing  drink  ;  then  he  called  to  an  old  trapper,  a  town 


Burgoyne  Tavern. 

pauper,  who,  crippled  with  rheumatism,  sat  ever  in 
the  warm  chimney  corner  of  the  taproom,  telling 
stories  of  coons  and  catamounts  and  wolverines,  and 
taking  such  stray  drops  of  liquid  comfort  as  old 
companions  or  new  sympathizers  might  pityingly 
give  him.  "  Here,  Ezra,"  the  boy  said,  "  you  take 
the  gentleman's  drink.  It's  paid  for."  Ezra  was 
ever  thirsty  and  never  fastidious.  He  gulped  down 


"Kill-devil"  and  its  Affines  107 

the  Scotchem.  "  It's  good,"  he  swaggered  bravely, 
with  eyes  streaming  from  the  scalding  mustard,  "  an' 
it's  tasty,  too,  ef  it  does  favor  tomato  ketchup." 

Forty  years  later  an  aged  man  was  swung  preca 
riously  out  with  a  violent  jerk  from  a  rampant  trol 
ley  car  in  front  of  the  Washington  Hotel.  He 
wearily  entered  the  gaudy  office,  and  turned  thence 
to  the  bar.  The  barkeeper,  a  keen-eyed,  lean  old 
fellow  of  inscrutable  countenance,  glanced  sharply  at 
him,  pondered  a  moment,  then  opened  a  remote 
closet,  drew  forth  from  its  recess  an  ancient  and 
dusty  demijohn  of  apple-jack,  and  with  boiling 
water  and  a  dash  of  mustard  compounded  a  drink 
which  he  placed  unasked  before  the  traveller. 
"  Here's  your  Scotchem,"  he  said  laconically.  The 
surprised  old  man  looked  sharply  around  him. 
Outside  the  window,  in  the  stable  yard,  a  single 
blasted  and  scaling  buttonwood  tree  alone  remained 
of  the  stately  green  row  whose  mottled  trunks  and 
glossy  leaves  once  bordered  the  avenue.  The  vary 
ing  grades  of  city  streets  had  entirely  cut  off  the 
long  porch  beloved  of  old-time  tavern  loafers.  The 
creaking  sign-board  had  vanished.  Within  was  no 
cheerful  chimney  corner  and  no  welcoming  blazing 
fire,  but  the  old  taproom  still  displayed  its  raftered 
ceiling.  The  ancient  traveller  solemnly  drank  his 
long-paid-for  mug  of  Scotchem.  "  It's  good,"  he 
said,  "  and  tasty,  if  it  does  favor  tomato  ketchup." 

A  ray  of  memory  darted  across  the  brain  of  the 
old  barkeeper,  and  albeit  he  was  not  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Psychical  Research  and  could  not 
formulate  his  brain  impressions,  yet  he  pondered 


io8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

on  the  curious  problem  of  thought  transference,  of 
forced  sequence  of  ideas,  of  coincidences  of  mental 
action  resulting  from  similar  physical  conditions  and 
influences. 

Flip  was  a  dearly  loved  drink  of  colonial  times,  far 
more  popular  in  America  than  in  England,  much  dif 
ferent  in  concoction  in  America  than  in  England,  and 
much  superior  in  America — a  truly  American  drink. 
As  its  chief  ingredient  is  beer,  it  might  be  placed  in 
the  chapter  on  small  drink,  but  the  large  amount  con 
sumed  entitles  it  to  a  place  with  more  rankly  intoxi 
cating  liquors. 

The  earliest  date  that  I  find  flip  named  in  New 
England  is  1690.  Frqm  that  year  till  the  middle 
of  this  century  there  never  was  a  day,  never  a  min 
ute  of  the  day,  and  scarce  of  the  night,  that  some 
old  Yankee  flip  drinker  was  not  plunging  in  a  log 
gerhead,  or  smacking  his  lips  over  a  mug  of  cream 
ing  flip. 

In  the  New  England  Almanac  for  1704  we  read 
under  December :  — 

"  The  days  are  short,  the  weather's  cold, 
By  tavern  fires  tales  are  told. 
Some  ask  for  dram  when  first  come  in, 
Others  with  flip  and  bounce  begin." 

American  flip  was  made  in  a  great  pewter  mug  or 
earthen  pitcher  filled  two-thirds  full  of  strong  beer ; 
sweetened  with  sugar,  molasses,  or  dried  pumpkin, 
according  to  individual  taste  or  capabilities ;  and 
flavored  with  "a  dash"  —  about  a  gill  —  of  New 
England  rum.  Into  this  mixture  was  thrust  and 
stirred  a  red-hot  loggerhead,  made  of  iron  and 


"Kill-devil"  and  its  Affines 


109 


shaped  like  a  poker,  and  the  seething  iron  made 
the  liquor  foam  and  bubble  and  mantle  high,  and 
gave  it  the  burnt,  bitter  taste  so  dearly  loved.  A 
famous  tavern  host  of  Canton,  Massachusetts,  had 
a  special  fancy  in  flip.  He  mixed  together  a  pint 
of  cream,  four  eggs,  and  four  pounds  of  sugar,  and 
kept  this  on  hand.  When  a  mug  of  flip  was  called 
for,  he  filled  a  quart  mug  two-thirds  full  of  bitter 
beer,  added  four  great  spoonfuls  of  his  creamy  com 
pound,  a  gill  of 
rum,  and  thrust 
in  the  loggerhead. 
If  a  fresh  egg  were 
beaten  into  the 
mixture,  the  froth 
poured  over  the 
top  of  the  mug, 
and  the  drink  was 
called  "  bellows- 
top." 

Let  me  not  fail 
to  speak  of  the 
splendid  glasses 
in  which  flip  was 
often  served  —  I 
mean  the  great  Happy  Farmer  Pitc 

glass  tumblers  without  handles  which,  under  the  name 
of  flip  glasses,  still  are  found  in  New  England  homes. 
They  are  vast  drinking-vessels,  sometimes  holding 
three  or  four  quarts  apiece,  and  speak  to  us  dis 
tinctly  of  the  unlimited  bibulous  capacities  of  our 
ancestors.  They  are  eagerly  sought  for  by  glass 


no  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days. 

and   china  collectors,  and   are   among   the   prettiest 
and  most  interesting  of  old-time  relics. 


Sign-board  of  Hancock  Tavern. 


English  flip  is  not  so  simple  nor  so  original  nor 
so  good  a  drink  as  American  flip.  It  might  be 
anything  but  flip,  since  it  is  compounded  in  a  sauce 
pan,  and  knows  naught  of  the  distinctive  branding 


"Kill-devil"   and  its  Affines  in 

of  flip,  the  seething  loggerhead.      If  it  contained  no 
spirits,  it  was  called  "  egg-hot." 

A  rule  for  flip  which  seems  to  combine  the  good 
points  of  the  American  and  English  methods,  uses 
ale  instead  of  home-brewed.  It  may  be  given  "in 
the  words  of  the  Publican  who  made  it"  :  — 

cc  Keep  grated  Ginger  and  Nutmeg  with  a  fine  dried 
Lemon  Peel  rubbed  together  in  a  Mortar.  To  make  a 
quart  of  Flip  :  Put  the  Ale  on  the  Fire  to  warm,  and  beat  up 
three  or  four  Eggs  with  four  ounces  of  moist  Sugar,  a  tea- 
spoonful  of  grated  Nutmeg  or  Ginger,  and  a  Quartern  of 
good  old  Rum  or  Brandy.  When  the  Ale  is  near  to  boil, 
put  it  into  one  pitcher,  and  the  Rum  and  Eggs,  etc.,  into 
another :  turn  it  from  one  Pitcher  to  another  till  it  is  as 
smooth  as  cream.  To  heat  plunge  in  the  red  hot  Logger 
head  or  Poker.  This  quantity  is  styled  One  Yard  of 
Flannel." 

A  quartern  is  a  quarter  of  a  gill,  which  is  about 
the  "  dash  "  of  rum. 

No  flip  was  more  widely  known  and  more 
respected  than  the  famous  brew  of  Abbott's  Tavern 
at  Holden,  Massachusetts.  This  house,  built  in 
1763,  and  kept  by  three  generations  of  Abbotts, 
never  wavered  in  the  quality  of  its  flip.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  famous  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  —  and  few  stage-coaches  or  travellers  ever 
passed  that  door  without  adding  to  its  praises  and 
thereafter  spreading  its  reputation.  It  is  sad  to  add 
that  I  don't  know  exactly  how  it  was  made.  A  bill 
still  existing  tells  its  price  in  Revolutionary  days  ; 
other  items  show  its  relative  valuation  :  — 


H2  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

"  Mug  New  England  Flip          .          .          .       . ' .         qd. 

"       West  India  .          .          ,          .       lid. 

Lodging  per  night  .          .          .          .          .         ^d. 

Pot  luck  per  meal  .....         8d. 

Boarding  commons  Men          .          .          .          .45.  8d. 

Weomen  .          .          .         2s.'< 

This  is  the  only  tavern  bill  I  have  ever  seen  in 
which  nice  distinctions  were  made  in  boarding  men 
and  women.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  the  "  weo- 
men  "  traveller  in  those  days  had  is.  %d.  of  daily 
advantage  over  the  men. 

Other  names  for  the  hospital  loggerhead  were 
flip-dog  and  hottle.  The  loggerhead  was  as  much 
a  part  of  the  chimney  furniture  of  an  old-time  New 
England  tavern  and  farm-house  as  the  bellows  or 
andirons.  In  all  taverns  and  many  hospitable 
homes  it  was  constantly  kept  warm  in  the  ashes, 
ready  for  speedy  heating  in  a  bed  of  hot  coals,  to 
burn  a  mug  of  fresh  flip  for  every  visitor  or  passer 
by.  Cider  could  be  used  instead  of  beer,  if  beer 
could  not  be  had.  Some  wise  old  flip  tasters  pre 
ferred  cider  to  beer.  Every  tavern  bill  of  the  eigh 
teenth  century  was  punctuated  with  entries  of  flip. 
John  Adams  said  if  you  spent  the  evening  in  a  tav 
ern,  you  found  it  full  of  people  drinking  drams  of 
flip,  carousing,  and  swearing.  The  old  taprooms 
were  certainly  cheerful  and  inviting  gathering-places; 
where  mine  host  sat  behind  his  cagelike  counter 
surrounded  by  cans  and  bottles  and  glasses,  jars  of 
whole  spices  and  whole  loaves  of  sugar  ;  where  an 
inspiring  row  of  barrels  of  New  England  rum,  hard 
cider,  and  beer  ranged  in  rivalry  at  an  end  of  the 
room,  and 


"Kill-devil"   and  its  Affines 


Flip  Glasses,  Loggerhead,  and  Toddy  Stick. 

"Where  dozed  a  fire  of  beechen  logs  that  bred 
Strange  fancies  in  its  embers  golden-red, 
And  nursed  the  loggerhead,  whose  hissing  dip, 
Timed  by  wise  instinct,  creamed  the  bowl  of  flip." 

These  fine  lines  of  Lowell's  seem  to  idealize  the 
homely  flip  and  the  loggerhead  as  we  love  to  ideal 
ize  the  customs  of  our  forbears.  Many  a  reader  of 
them,  inspired  by  the  picture,  has  heated  an  iron 
poker  or  flip-dog  and  brewed  and  drunk  a  mug  of 
flip.  I  did  so  not  long  ago,  mixing  carefully  by  a 
rule  for  flip  recommended  and  recorded  and  used 
by  General  Putnam  —  Old  Put  —  in  the  Revolu 
tion.  I  had  the  Revolutionary  receipt  and  I  had 
the  Revolutionary  loggerhead,  and  I  had  the  old- 
time  ingredients,  but  alas,  I  had  neither  the  tastes 
nor  the  digestion  of  my  Revolutionary  sires,  and 
the  indescribable  scorched  and  puckering  bitterness 


ii4  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

of  taste  and  pungency  of  smell  of  that  rank  com 
pound  which  was  flip,  will  serve  for  some  time  in 
my  memory  as  an  antidote  for  any  overweening 
longing  for  the  good  old  times. 

The  toddy  stick,  beloved  for  the  welcome  ringing 
music  it  made  on  the  sides  of  glass  tumblers,  was 
used  to  stir  up  toddy  and  other  sweetened  drinks. 

It  was  a  stick  six  or  eight  inches  long,  with  a 
knob  at  one  end,  or  flattened  out  at  the  end  so 
it  would  readily  crush  the  loaf  sugar  used  in  the 
drink.  The  egg-nog  stick  was  split  at  one  end, 
and  a  cross-piece  of  wood  was  set  firmly  in.  It  was 
a  crude  egg-beater.  Whirled  rapidly  around,  while 
the  upright  stick  was  held  firmly  between  the  palms 
of  the  hands,  it  was  a  grateful,  graceful,  and  inviting 
machine  in  the  hands  of  skilful  landlords  of  old. 

Another  universal  and  potent  colonial  drink  was 
punch.  It  came  to  the  English  colonies  in  Amer 
ica  from  the  English  colonies  in  India.  To  the 
Orientals  we  owe  punch  —  as  many  other  good 
things.  The  word  is  from  the  Hindustani  panch^ 
five,  referring  to  the  five  ingredients  then  used  in 
the  drink,  namely  :  tea,  arrack,  sugar,  lemons,  water. 

In  1675  one  Tryer  drank  punch  in  India  and, 
like  the  poor  thing  that  he  was,  basely  libelled  it  as 
an  enervating  liquor.  The  English  took  very  quickly 
to  the  new  drink,  as  they  did  to  everything  else  in 
India,  and  soon  the  word  appeared  in  English  bal 
lads,  showing  that  punch  was  well  known. 

Englishmen  did  not  use  without  change  the  punch 
bowls  of  India,  but  invented  an  exceptionally  elegant 
form  known  by  the  name  of  Monteith.  It  was  called 


"  Kill-devil  "   and  its   Affines 


1  1  5 


after  a  man  of  fashion  who  was  marked  and  remark 
able  for  wearing  a  scalloped  coat.  In  the  Art  of 
Cookery  we  find  reference  to  him  and  the  Mon 
teith  punch  bowl :  — 

"New  things  produce  new  words,  and  so  Monteith 
Has  by  one  vessel  saved  himself  from  death." 

Monteiths  seem  to  have  come  into  fashion  about 
1697.  The  rim  was  scalloped  like  its  namesake's 
coat,  or  cut  in  battlements,  thus  forming  indenta 
tions,  in  which  a 
punch  ladle  and 
lemon  strainer 
and  tall  wine- 
glasses  were 
hung  on  their 
sides,  the  foot 
out.  The  rim 
was  usually  sepa 
rate  from  the 
bowl,  and  was 
lifted  off  with  the 
glasses  and  ladle 

and  strainer,  for  the  punch  to  be  brewed  in  the  bowl. 
When  the  punch  was  duly  finished,  the  ornamental  rim 
was  replaced.  A  porcelain  imitation  of  a  Monteith 
is  here  shown,  which  was  made  in  China  for  an 
American  ship-owner,  doubtless  from  a  silver  model. 
Punch  became  popular  in  New  England  just  as  it 
did  in  old  England,  in  fact,  wherever  English-speak 
ing  sea  rovers  could  tell  of  the  new  drink.  In  1682 
John  Winthrop  wrote  of  the  sale  of  a  punch  bowl 


Porcelain  Monteith. 


n6  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

in  Boston,  and  in  1686  John  Dunton  told  of  more 
than  one  noble  bowl  of  punch  in  New  England. 

Every  buffet  of  people  of  good  station  in  prosper 
ous  times  soon  had  a  punch  bowl.  Every  dinner 
was  prefaced  by  a  bowl  of  punch  passed  from  hand 
to  hand,  while  the  liquor  was  drunk  from  the  bowl. 
Double  and  "thribble"  bowls  of  punch  were  served 
in  taverns ;  these  held  two  and  three  quarts  each. 

To  show  the  amount  of  punch  drunk  at  a  minister's 
ordination  in  New  England  in  1785,  I  will  state 
that  the  eighty  people  attending  in  the  morning  had 
thirty  bowls  of  punch  before  going  to  meeting ;  and 
the  sixty-eight  who  had  dinner  disposed  of  forty-four 
bowls  of  punch,  eighteen  bottles  of  wine,  eight  bowls 
of  brandy,  and  a  quantity  of  cherry  rum. 

Punch  was  popular  in  Virginia,  it  was  popular  in 
New  York,  it  was  popular  in  Pennsylvania.  William 
Black  recorded  in  his  diary  in  1744  that  in  Phila 
delphia  he  was  given  cider  and  punch  for  lunch  ; 
rum  and  brandy  before  dinner;  punch,  Madeira, 
port,  and  sherry  at  dinner  ;  punch  and  liqueurs  with 
the  ladies  ;  and  wine,  spirit,  and  punch  till  bedtime  ; 
all  in  punch  bowls  big  enough  for  a  goose  to  swim  in. 

In  1757  S.  M.  of  Boston,  who  was  doubtless 
Samuel  Mather,  the  son  of  Cotton  Mather,  sent  to 
Sir  Harry  Frankland,  the  hero  of  the  New  Eng 
land  romance  of  Agnes  Surriage,  a  box  of  lemons 
with  these  lines  :  — 

"  You  know  from  Eastern  India  came 
The  skill  of  making  punch  as  did  the  name. 
And  as  the  name  consists  of  letters  five, 
By  five  ingredients  is  it  kept  alive. 


Kill-devil"   and  its  Affines  117 


Cincinnati  Punch  Bowl. 

To  purest  water  sugar  must  be  joined, 
With  these  the  grateful  acid  is  combined. 
Some  any  sours  they  get  contented  use, 
But  men  of  taste  do  that  from  Tagus  choose. 
When  now  these  three  are  mixed  with  care 
Then  added  be  of  spirit  a  small  share. 
And  that  you  may  the  drink  quite  perfect  see, 
Atop  the  musky  nut  must  grated  be." 

From  the  accounts  that  have  come  down  to  us, 
the  "  spirits  a  small  share  "  of  the  Puritan  Mather's 
punch  receipt  was  seldom  adhered  to  in  New  Eng 
land  punches. 

The  importation  to  England  and  America  of 
lemons,  oranges,  and  limes  for  use  as  punch  "  sowr- 
ings,"  as  they  were  called,  was  an  important  part 
of  the  West  Indian  and  Portuguese  trade.  The 
juices  of  lemons,  oranges,  limes,  and  pineapples 
were  all  used  in  punches,  and  were  imported  in 
demijohns  and  bottles.  The  appetizing  advertise 
ments  of  J.  Crosby,  a  Boston  fruit  importer,  are  fre 
quent  for  many  years  in  New  England  newspapers. 
Here  is  one  from  the  Salem  Gazette  in  1741  :  — 


1 1 8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

"  Extraordinary  good  and  very  fresh  Orange  juice 
which  some  of  the  very  best  Punch  Tasters  prefer  to 
Lemmon,  at  one  dollar  a  gallon.  Also  very  good  Lime 
Juice  and  Shrub  to  put  into  Punch  at  the  Basket  of  Lem- 
mons,  J,  Crosby,  Lemmon  Trader." 

I  don't  know  whether  the  punch  tasters  referred 
to  were  professional  punch  mixers  or  whether  it  was 
simply  a  term  applied  to  persons  of  well-known 
experience  and  judgment  in  punch-drinking. 

In  Salem,  New  Jersey,  in  1729,  tavern  prices 
were  regulated  by  the  Court.  They  were  thus  :  — 

"  A  rub  of  punch  made  with  double-refined  sugar  and  one 
and  a  half  gills  of  rum  ....  ()d. 

A  rub  of  punch  made  with  single  refined  sugar  and  one 
and  a  half  gills  of  rum  .  .  .  .  8d. 

A  rub  made  of  Muscovado  sugar  and  one  and  a  half 
gills  of  rum  ......  yd. 

A  quart  of  flipp  made  with  a  pint  of  rum  .  .      gd. 

A  pint  of  wine        .          .          .          .  is. 

A  gill  of  rum  ......      %d. 

A  quart  of  strong  beer     .....     4^. 

A  gill  of  brandy  or  cordial         ....      6d. 

A  quart  of  metheglin        .....      gd. 

A  quart  of  cider  royal       .  .  .          .          .8^. 

A  quart  of  cider      .          .          .          .          .          .      ^d. " 

Punches  were  many  of  name,  scores  of  different 
ones  were  given  by  drink  compounders,  both  ama 
teur  and  professional.  Punches  were  named  for 
persons,  for  places  ;  for  taverns  and  hosts ;  for  bar 
tenders  and  stage-coach  drivers  ;  for  unusual  ingre 
dients  or  romantic  incidents.  Sometimes  honor 


"Kill-devil"  and  its  Affines  119 

was  conferred  by  naming  the  punch  for  the  person  ; 
sometimes  the  punch  was  the  only  honor  the  origi 
nal  ever  had.  In  these  punches  all  kinds  of  flavor 
ing  and  spices  were  used,  and  all  the  strong  liquors 
of  the  world,  all  the  spirits,  wines,  liqueurs,  drops, 
distilled  waters  and  essences  —  but  seldom  and  scant 
malt  liquors,  if  it  were  truly  punch. 

With  regard  to  the  proper  amounts  of  all  these 
various  fluids  to  be  used  in  composition  opinions 
always  differed.  Many  advised  a  light  hand  with 
cordials,  some  disliked  spices ;  others  wished  a 
plentiful  amount  of  lemon  juice,  others  wished  tea. 
In  respect  of  the  proportions  of  two  important  and 
much-discussed  ingredients,  old-time  landlords  ap 
parently  heeded  directions  similar  to  those  I  once 
heard  given  impressively  by  an  old  Irish  ecclesias 
tic  of  high  office  :  "  Shtop  !  shtop  !  ye  are  not  com- 
mincin'  right  and  in  due  ordher  !  Ye  musthn't  iver 
put  your  whiskey  or  rum  foorst  in  your  punch 
bowl  and  thin  add  wather ;  for  if  ye  do,  ivery  dhrop 
of  wather  ye  put  in  is  just  cruel  spoilin'  of  the 
punch;  but  —  foorst  —  put  some  wather  in  the 
bowl  —  some,  I  say,  since  in  conscience  ye  must  — 
thin  pour  in  the  rum  ;  and  sure  ye  can  aisily  par- 
caive  that  ivery  dhrop  ye  put  in  is  afther  makin'  the 
punch  betther  and  betther." 

Charles  Lamb  tells  in  his  Popular  Fallacies  of 
"  Bully  Dawson  kicked  by  half  the  town  and  half 
the  town  kicked  by  Bully  Dawson."  This  Bully 
Dawson  was  a  famous  punch  brewer ;  his  rule  was 
precisely  like  that  of  a  famous  New  England  land 
lord,  and  is  worth  choosing  among  a  score  of  rules:  — 


I2O  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

"The  man  who  sees,  does,  or  thinks  of  anything  else 
while  he  is  making  Punch  may  as  well  look  for  the  North 
west  Passage  on  Mutton  Hill.  A  man  can  never  make 
good  punch  unless  he  is  satisfied,  nay  positive,  that  no 
man  breathing  can  make  better.  I  can  and  do  make  good 
Punch,  because  I  do  nothing  else,  and  this  is  my  way  of 
doing  it.  I  retire  to  a  solitary  corner  with  my  ingredi 
ents  ready  sorted  ;  they  are  as  follows,  and  I  mix  them  in 
the  order  they  are  here  written.  Sugar,  twelve  tolerable 
lumps;  hot  water,  one  pint;  lemons,  two,  the  juice  and 
peel ;  old  Jamaica  rum,  two  gills  ;  brandy,  one  gill ;  porter 
or  stout,  half  a  gill ;  arrack,  a  slight  dash.  I  allow  myself 
five  minutes  to  make  a  bowl  in  the  foregoing  proportions, 
carefully  stirring  the  mixture  as  I  furnish  the  ingredients 
until  it  actually  foams ;  and  then  Kangaroos  !  how  beauti 
ful  it  is  !  " 

With  this  nectar  and  a  toast  we  may  fitly  close 
this  chapter.  May  the  grass  grow  lightly  o'er  the 
grave  of  Bully  Dawson,  and  weigh  like  lead  on  the 
half  the  town  that  kicked  him  ! 


UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER   VI 

SMALL     DRINK 

T"  TNDER  this  tearme  of  small-drink,"  wrote 
an  old  chronicler,  "  do  I  endow  such 

X^x  drinks  as  are  of  comfort,  to  quench  an 
honest  thirst,  not  to  heat  the  brain,  as  one  man 
hath  ale,  another  cider,  another  metheglin,  and  one 
sack."  Under  this  title  I  also  place  such  tavern 
and  home  drinks  of  colonial  times  as  were  not 
deemed  vastly  intoxicating ;  though  New  England 
cider  might  well  be  ranged  very  close  to  New  Eng 
land  rum  in  intoxicating  powers. 

The  American  colonists  were  not  enthusiastic 
water  drinkers,  and  they  soon  imported  malt  and 
established  breweries  to  make  the  familiar  ale  and 
beer  of  old  England.  The  Dutch  patroons  found 
brewing  a  profitable  business  in  New  York,  and 
private  families  in  all  the  colonies  built  home  brew- 
houses  and  planted  barley  and  hops. 

In  Virginia  a  makeshift  ale  was  made  from  maize 
as  early  as  1620.  George  Thorpe  wrote  that  it  was 
a  good  drink,  much  preferable  to  English  beer. 
Governor  Berkeley  wrote  of  Virginians  a  century 
later : — 

121 


122  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

"  Their  small-drink  is  either  wine  or  water,  beer,  milk 
and  water,  or  water  alone.  Their  richer  sort  generally 
brew  their  small-beer  with  malt,  which  they  have  from 
England,  though  barley  grows  there  very  well ;  but  for  the 
want  of  convenience  of  malt-houses,  the  inhabitants  take 
no  care  to  sow  it.  The  poorer  sort  brew  their  beer  with 
molasses  and  bran ;  with  Indian  corn  malted  with  drying 
in  a  stove :  with  persimmons  dried  in  a  cake  and  baked ; 
with  potatoes  with  the  green  stalks  of  Indian  corn  cut 
small  and  bruised,  with  pompions,  with  the  Jerusalem 
artichoke  which  some  people  plant  purposely  for  that  use, 
but  this  is  the  least  esteemed." 

Similar  beers  were  made  in  New  England.  The 
court  records  are  full  of  enactments  to  encourage 
beer-brewing.  They  had  not  learned  that  liberty  to 
brew,  when  and  as  each  citizen  pleased,  would  prove 
the  best  stimulus.  Much  personal  encouragement 
was  also  given.  The  President  of  Harvard  College 
did  not  disdain  to  write  to  the  court  on  behalf  of 
"Sister  Bradish,"  that  she  might  be  "encouraged 
and  countenanced "  in  her  baking  of  bread  and 
brewing  and  selling  of  penny  beer.  And  he  adds  in 
testimony  that  "  such  is  her  art,  way,  and  skill  that 
shee  doth  vend  such  comfortable  penniworths  for 
the  relief  of  all  that  send  unto  her  as  elsewhere  they 
can  seldom  meet  with."  College  students  were  per 
mitted  to  buy  of  her  to  a  certain  amount ;  and  with 
the  light  of  some  contemporary  evidence  as  to  the 
quality  of  the  college  commons  we  can  believe  they 
needed  very  "comfortable  penniworths." 

Some  New  England  taverns  were  famous  for 
their  spruce,  birch,  and  sassafras  beer,  boiled  with 


Small   Drink 


scores  of  roots  and  herbs,  with  birch,  spruce,  or 
sassafras  bark,  with  pumpkin  and  apple  parings, 
with  sweetening  of  molasses  or  maple  syrup,  or 
beet  tops  and  other  makeshifts.  A  colonial  song 
writer  boasted  — 

"  Oh,  we  can  make  liquor  to  sweeten  our  lips 
Of  pumpkins,  of  parsnips,  of  walnut-tree  chips." 


Sign-board  of  Amherst  Hotel. 

According  to  Diodorus  Siculus,  the  ancient  Brit 
ons  drank  on  festive  occasions  liquors  made  from 
honey,  apples,  and  barley,  viz.,  mead,  cider,  and  ale. 
The  Celts  drank  mead  and  cider — natural  drinks 
within  the  capabilities  of  manufacture  by  slightly 
civilized  nations  ;  for  wild  honey  and  wild  apples 
could  be  found  everywhere.  Ale  indicated  agricul 
ture  and  a  more  advanced  civilization. 


124  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Mead,  or  metheglin,  of  fermented  honey,  herbs, 
and  water,  has  been  made  by  every  race  and  tribe  on 
this  globe,  living  where  there  was  enough  vegetation 
to  cherish  bees.  It  had  been  a  universal  drink  in 
England,  but  was  somewhat  in  disuse  when  this 
country  was  settled. 

Harrison  wrote :  — 

"  The  Welsh  make  no  less  account  of  metheglin 
than  the  Greeks  did  of  their  ambrosia  or  nectar,  which 
for  the  pleasantness  thereof  was  supposed  to  be  such 
as  the  gods  themselves  did  delight  in.  There  is  a  kind 
of  swishswash  made  also  in  Essex,  and  divers  other 
places,  with  honeycomb  and  water,  which  the  homely 
country-wives  putting  some  pepper  and  a  little  other  spice 
among,  called  mead  :  very  good  in  mine  opinion  for 
such  as  love  to  be  loose-bodied  at  large,  or  a  little 
eased  of  the  cough.  Otherwise  it  differeth  so  much 
from  true  metheglin  as  chalk  from  cheese ;  and  one  of 
the  best  things  that  I  know  belonging  thereto  is,  that 
they  spend  but  little  labour  and  less  cost  in  making  of 
the  same,  and  therefore  no  great  loss  if  it  were  never 
occupied." 

Metheglin  was  one  of  the  drinks  of  the  Ameri 
can  colonists.  It  was  a  favorite  drink  in  Kentucky 
till  well  into  this  century.  As  early  as  1633,  the 
Piscataqua  planters  of  New  Hampshire,  in  their 
list  of  values  which  they  set  in  furs,  —  the  cur 
rency  of  the  colony,  —  made  "  6  Gallon  Mathaglin 
equal  2  Lb  Beaver."  In  Virginia,  whole  plantations 
of  honey  locust  were  set  out  to  supply  metheglin. 
The  long  beans  of  the  locust  were  ground  and  mixed 
with  honey  herbs  and  water,  and  fermented. 


Small   Drink 


125 


In  a  letter  written  from  Virginia  in  1649,  ^  ^s 
told  of  "  an  ancient  planter  of  twenty-five  years 
standing,"  that  he  had  good  store  of  bees  and 
"  made  excellent  good  Matheglin,  a  pleasant  and 
strong  drink." 

Oldmixon,  in  History  of  Carolina  (1708),  says, 
"  the  bees  swarm  there  six  or  seven  times  a  year, 
and  the  metheglin  made  there  is  as  good  as  Malaga 
sack,"  which  may  be  taken  cum  grano  salis. 

In  New  England  drinking  habits  soon  underwent 
a  marked  and  speedy  change.  English  grains  did 
not  thrive  well  those  first  years  of  settlement,  and 
were  costly  to  import,  so  New  Englanders  soon 
drifted  from  beer-drinking  to  cider-drinking.  The 
many  apple  orchards  planted  first  by  Endicott  and 
Blackstone  in  Massachusetts,  and  Wolcott  in  Con 
necticut,  and  seen  in  a  few  decades  on  every 
prosperous  and  thrifty  farm,  soon  gave  forth  their 
bountiful  yield  of  juicy  fruit.  Perhaps  this  change 
in  drinking  habits  was  indirectly  the  result  of  the 
influence  of  the  New  England  climate.  Cider 
seemed  more  fitted  for  sharp  New  England  air  than 
ale.  Cider  was  soon  so  cheap  and  plentiful  through 
out  the  colony  that  all  could  have  their  fill.  Josse- 
lyn  said  in  1670:  "I  have  had  at  the  tap-houses 
of  Boston  an  ale-quart  of  cider  spiced  and  sweetened 
with  sugar  for  a  groat." 

All  the  colonists  drank  cider,  old  and  young,  and 
in  all  places,  — funerals,  weddings,  ordainings,  ves 
try-meetings,  church-raisings,  etc.  Infants  in  arms 
drank  mulled  hard  cider  at  night,  a  beverage  which 
would  kill  a  modern  babe.  It  was  supplied  to  stu- 


126  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


Eagle  Tavern  and  Sign-board,  Newton,  New  Hampshire. 

dents  at  Harvard  and  Yale  colleges  at  dinner  and 
bever,  being  passed  in  two  quart  tankards  from 
hand  to  hand  down  the  commons  table.  Old 


Small   Drink  127 

men  began  the  day  with  a  quart  or  more  of  hard 
cider  before  breakfast.  Delicate  women  drank  hard 
ciden  All  laborers  in  the  field  drank  it  in  great 
draughts  that  were  often  liberally  fortified  with 
drams  of  New  England  rum.  The  apple  crop  was 
so  wholly  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of  cider  that 
in  the  days  of  temperance  reform  at  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  Washingtonian  zealots  cut  down 
great  orchards  of  full-bearing  trees,  not  conceiving 
any  adequate  use  of  the  fruit  for  any  purpose  save 
cider-making. 

A  friend  —  envious  and  emulous  of  the  detective 
work  so  minutely  described  by  Conan  Doyle  —  was 
driving  last  summer  on  an  old  New  England  road 
entirely  unfamiliar  to  him.  He  suddenly  turned  to 
the  stage-driver  by  his  side  and,  pointing  to  a  house 
alongside  the  road,  said,  "The  man  who  lives  there 
is  a  drunkard."  —  "  Why,  yes,"  answered  the  driver 
in  surprise,  "do  you  know  him  ?"  —  "No,"  said 
the  traveller,  "  I  never  saw  him  and  don't  know 
his  name,  but  he's  a  drunkard  and  his  father  was 
before  him,  and  his  grandfather."  -"  It's  true,"  an 
swered  the  driver,  with  much  astonishment ;  "  how 
could  you  tell  ?  "  —  "  Well,  there  is  a  large  orchard 
of  very  old  apple  trees  round  that  house,  while  all 
his  neighbors,  even  when  the  houses  are  old,  have 
younger  orchards.  When  the  c  Washingtonian  or 
Temperance  Movement '  reached  this  town,  the 
owner  of  this  place  was  too  confirmed  a  drunkard  to 
reform  and  cut  down  his  apple  trees  as  his  neighbors 
did,  and  he  kept  on  at  his  hard  cider  and  cider  brandy, 
and  his  son  and  grandson  grew  up  to  be  drunkards 


128  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

after  him."  Later  inquiry  in  the  town  proved  the 
truth  of  the  amateur  detective's  guesswork. 

Cider  was  tediously  made  at  first  by  pounding 
the  apples  in  wooden  mortars ;  the  pomace  was 
afterward  pressed  in  baskets.  Then  rude  mills 
with  a  spring  board  and  heavy  maul  crushed  the 
apples  in  a  hollowed  log.  Then  presses  for  cider- 
making  began  to  be  set  up  about  the  year  1650. 

Apples  were  at  that  time  six  to  eight  shillings  a 
bushel ;  cider  i s.  %d.  a  gallon  —  as  high-priced  as  New 
England  rum  a  century  later. 

Connecticut  cider  soon  became  specially  famous. 
Roger  Williams  in  1660  says  John  Winthrop's 
loving  letter  to  him  was  as  grateful  as  "  a  cup  of 
your  Connecticut  cider."  By  1679  ^  was  cheap 
enough,  ten  shillings  a  barrel ;  and  in  the  year 
1700,  about  seven  shillings  only.  It  had  then 
replaced  beer  in  nearly  all  localities  in  daily  diet; 
yet  at  the  Commencement  dinner  at  Harvard  in 
1703,  four  barrels  of  beer  were  served  and  but  one 
of  cider,  with  eighteen  gallons  of  wine. 

In  1721  one  Massachusetts  village  of  forty  fami 
lies  made  three  thousand  barrels  of  cider,  and  Judge 
Joseph  Wilder  of  Lancaster,  Massachusetts,  made 
six  hundred  and  sixteen  barrels  in  the  year  1728. 

Bennett,  an  English  traveller,  writing  of  Boston 
in  the  year  1740,  says  that  "the  generality  of  the 
people  with  their  victuals  "  drank  cider,  which  was 
plentiful  and  good  at  three  shillings  a  barrel.  It 
took  a  large  amount  of  cider  to  supply  a  family 
when  all  drank,  and  drank  freely.  Ministers  often 
stored  forty  barrels  of  cider  for  winter  use. 


Small   Drink 


129 


By  the  closing  years  of  the  seventeenth  century 
nearly  all  Virginia  plantations  had  an  apple  orchard. 
Colonel  Fitzhugh  had  twenty-five  hundred  apple 
trees.  So  quickly  did  they  mature,  that  six  years 
after  the  scions  were  planted,  they  bore  fruit. 
Many  varieties  were  common,  such  as  russets,  cos 
tards,  pippins,  mains,  marigolds,  kings,  and  batch- 
elors.  So  great  was  the  demand  for  cider  in  the 


Cider  Pitcher  and  Cups. 


South  that  apple  orchards  were  deemed  the  most 
desirable  leasing  property.  Cider  never  reached 
a  higher  price,  however,  than  two  shillings  and  a 
half  in  Virginia  during  the  seventeenth  century. 
Thus  it  could  be  found  in  the  house  of  every 
Maryland  and  Virginia  planter.  It  was  supplied 
to  the  local  courts  during  their  times  of  sitting. 
Many  households  used  it  in  large  quantity  instead 
of  beer  or  metheglin,  storing  many  barrels  for 
everyday  use. 


I  jo  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

At  a  very  early  date  apple  trees  were  set  out  in 
New  York,  and  cultivated  with  much  care  and  much 
success.  Nowhere  else  in  America,  says  Dankers, 
the  Labadist  traveller,  had  he  seen  such  fine  apples. 
The  names  of  the  Newton  pippin,  the  Kingston 
spitzenburgh,  the  Poughkeepsie  swaar  apple,  the  red 
streak,  guelderleng,  and  others  of  well-known  quality, 
show  New  York's  attention  to  apple-raising.  Kalm, 
the  Swedist  naturalist,  spoke  of  the  splendid  apple 
orchards  which  he  saw  throughout  New  York  in 
1749,  and  told  of  the  use  of  the  horse  press  in  the 
Hudson  Valley  for  making  cider.  Cider  soon 
rivalled  in  domestic  use  in  this  province  the  beer 
of  the  Fatherland.  It  was  constantly  used  during 
the  winter  season,  and,  diluted  with  water,  sweetened 
and  flavored  with  nutmeg,  made  a  grateful  summer 
drink.  Combined  with  rum,  it  formed  many  of 
the  most  popular  and  intoxicating  colonial  drinks, 
of  which  "stone-wall  "  was  the  most  potent.-  Cider- 
royal  was  made  by  boiling  four  barrels  of  cider  into 
one  barrel.  P.  T.  Barnum  said  cider-spirits  was 
called  "gumption." 

A  New  Hampshire  settler  carried  on  his  back 
for  twenty  miles  to  his  home  a  load  of  young  apple 
trees.  They  thrived  and  grew  apace,  and  his  first 
crop  was  eight  bushels.  From  these,  he  proudly 
recounted,  he  made  one  barrel  of  cider,  one  barrel 
of  water-cider,  and  "  one  barrel  of  charming  good 
drink."  Water-cider,  or  ciderkin,  was  a  very  weak, 
slightly  cidery  beverage,  which  was  made  by  pour 
ing  water  over  the  solid  dregs  left  after  the  cider 
had  been  pressed  from  the  pomace,  and  pressing  it 


Small   Drink  131 

over  again.  It  was  deemed  especially  suitable  for 
children  to  drink  ;  sometimes  a  little  molasses  and 
ginger  was  added  to  it. 

A  very  mild  tavern  drink  was  beverige  ;  its  con 
coction  varied  in  different  localities.  Sometimes 
beverige  was  water-cider  or  ciderkin  ;  at  other  times 


Parson's  Tavern. 


cider,  spices,  and  water.  Water  flavored  with  mo 
lasses  and  ginger  was  called  beverige,  and  is  a  sum 
mer  drink  for  New  England  country-folk  to-day. 

John  Hammond  wrote  of  Virginia  in  1656  in  his 
Leah  and  Rachel :  — 

u  Beare  is  indeed  in  some  places  constantly  drunken,  in 
other  some  nothing  but  Water  or  Milk,  and  Water  or 
Beverige ;  and  that  is  where  the  good-wives  (if  I  may  so 


132  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

call  them)  are  negligent  and  idle ;  for  it  is  not  want  of  Corn 
to  make  Malt  with,  for  the  Country  affords  enough,  but 
because  they  are  slothful  and  careless ;  and  I  hope  this 
Item  will  shame  them  out  of  these  humours  ;  that  they 
will  be  adjudged  by  their  drinke,  what  kind  of  Housewives 
they  are." 

Vinegar  and  water  —  a  drink  of  the  ancient 
Roman  soldiery  —  was  also  called  beverige.  Dr. 
Rush  wrote  a  pamphlet  recommending  its  use  by 
harvest  laborers. 

Switchel  was  a  similar  drink,  strengthened  with 
a  dash  of  rum.  Ebulum  was  the  juice  of  elder 
and  juniper  berries,  spiced  and  sweetened.  Perry 
was  made  from  pears,  and  peachy  from  peaches. 

A  terrible  drink  is  said  to  have  been  popular  in 
Salem.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  which  was  worse, 
the  drink  or  its  name.  It  was  sour  household  beer 
simmered  in  a  kettle,  sweetened  with  molasses,  filled 
with  crumbs  of  "ryneinjun"  bread,  and  drunk 
piping  hot ;  its  name  was  whistle-belly-vengeance, 
or  whip-belly-vengeance.  This  name  was  not  a 
Yankee  vulgarism,  but  a  well-known  old  English 
term.  Bickerdyke  says  small  beer  was  rightly  stig 
matized  by  this  name.  Dean  Swift  in  his  Polite 
Conversations  gives  this  smart  dialogue  :  — 

u  Hostess  (offering  ale  to  Sir  John  Linger).  I  never 
taste  malt-liquor,  but  they  say  ours  is  well-hopp'd. 

Sir  John.  Hopp'd  !  why  if  it  had  hopp'd  a  little  fur 
ther,  it  would  have  hopp'd  into  the  river. 

Hostess.    I  was  told  ours  was  very  strong. 

Sir  John.    Yes !    strong    of   the    water.      I    believe    the 


Small   Drink 

brewer  forgot  the  malt,  or  the  river  was  too  near  him. 
Faith  !  it  is  more  whip-belly-vengeance ;  he  that  drinks 
most  has  the  worst  share." 

This  would  hardly  seem  a  word  for  "  polite  con 
versation,"  though  it  was  certainly  a  term  in  com 
mon  use.  Its  vulgarity  is  in  keen  contrast  to  the 
name  of  another  "  small  drink,"  a  name  which  brings 
to  the  mental  vision  thoughts  of  the  good  cheer,  the 
genial  hospitality,  the  joy  of  living,  of  Elizabethan 
days.  A  black  letter  copy  of  the  Loyal  Garland^ 
a  collection  of  songs  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
thus  names  the  drink  in  this  gay  song :  — 

"  To  the  Tavern  lets  away  ! 
There  have  I  a  Mistress  got, 
Cloystered  in  a  Pottle  Pot  ; 
Plump  and  bounding,  soft   and  fair, 
Bucksome,  sweet  and  debonair, 
And  they  call  her  Sack,  my  Dear  !  " 

It  is  vain  to  enter  here  into  a  discussion  of  exactly 
what  sack  was,  since  so  much  has  been  written 
about  it.  The  name  was  certainly  applied  to  sweet 
wines  from  many  places.  A  contemporary  authority, 
Gervayse  Markham,  says  in  The  English  Housewife, 
"  Your  best  Sackes  are  of  Seres  in  Spain,  your 
smaller  of  Galicia  or  Portugall :  your  strong  Sackes 
are  of  the  islands  of  the  Canaries." 

Sack  was,  therefore,  a  special  make  of  the  strong, 
dry,  sweet,  light-colored  wines  of  the  sherry  family, 
such  as  come  from  the  South,  from  Portugal,  Spain, 
and  the  Canary  Islands.  By  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury  the  name  was  applied  to  all  sweet  wines  of  this 


1 34  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


class,  as  distinguished  from  Rhenish  wines  on  one 
hand  and  red  wines  on  the  other.  Many  do  not 
wish  to  acknowledge  that  sack  was  sherry,  but  there 
was  little  distinction  between  them.  Sherris-sack, 
named  by  Shakespeare,  was  practically  also  sherry. 

Sack  was  so  cheap  that  it  could  be  used  by  all 
classes.  From  an  original  license  granted  by  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  in  1584,  to  one  Bradshaw  to  keep 


Toby  Fillpots. 

a  tavern   we   learn   that  sack  was   then   worth   two 
shillings  a  gallon. 

Perhaps  the  most  famous  use  of  sack  was  in 
the  making  of  sack-posset,  that  drink  of  brides,  of 
grooms,  of  wedding  and  christening  parties.  A 
rhymed  rule  for  sack-posset  found  its  way  into 
many  collections,  and  into  English  and  American 
newspapers.  It  is  said  to  have  been  written  by  Sir 
Fleetwood  Fletcher.  It  was  thus  printed  in  the 
New  York  Gazette  of  February  13,  1744  :  — 


Small  Drink 


'35 


"  A  Receipt  for  all  young  Ladies  that  are  going  to  be  Married. 
To  make  a 

SACK-POSSET 

From  famed  Barbadoes  on  the  Western  Main 
Fetch  sugar  half  a  pound  ;  fetch  sack  from  Spain 
A  pint  ;   and  from  the  Eastern  Indian  Coast 
Nutmeg,  the  glory  of  our  Northern  toast. 
O'er  flaming  coals  together  let  them  heat 
Till  the  all-conquering  sack  dissolves  the  sweet. 
O'er  such  another  fire  set  eggs,  twice  ten, 
New  born  from  crowing  cock  and  speckled  hen  ; 
Stir  them  with  steady  hand,  and  conscience  pricking 
To  see  the  untimely  fate  of  twenty  chicken. 
From  shining  shelf  take  down  your  brazen  skillet, 
A  quart  of  milk  from  gentle  cow  will  fill  it. 
When  boiled  and  cooked,  put  milk  and  sack  to  egg, 
Unite  them  firmly  like  the  triple  League. 
Then  covered  close,  together  let  them  dwell 
Till  Miss  twice  sings  :    You  must  not  kiss  and  tell. 
Each  lad  and  lass  snatch  up  their  murdering  spoon, 
And  fall  on  fiercely  like  a  starved  dragoon." 

Sack  was  drunk  in  America  during  the  first  half- 
century  of  colonial  life.  It  was  frequently  imported 
to  Virginia ;  and  all  the  early  instructions  for  the 
voyage  cross-seas,  such  as  Governor  Winthrop's  to 
his  wife  and  those  of  the  Plymouth  Plantations,  urge 
the  shipping  of  sack  for  the  sailors.  Even  in  Judge 
Sewall's  day,  a  century  after  the  planting  of  Boston, 
sack-posset  was  drunk  at  Puritan  weddings,  but  a 
psalm  and  a  prayer  made  it  properly  solemn. 
Judge  Sewall  wrote  of  a  Boston  wedding :- 

"  There  was  a  pretty  deal  of  company  present.  Many 
young  gentlemen  and  young  gentlewomen.  Mr.  Noyes 


136  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

made  a  speech,  said  love  was  the  sugar  to  sweeten  every 
condition  in  the  marriage  state.  After  the  Sack-Posset 
sang  45th  Psalm  from  8th  verse  to  end." 

Canary  soon  displaced  sack  in  popular  affection, 
and  many  varieties  of  closely  allied  wines  were 
imported.  Sir  Edmund  Andros  named  in  his 
excise  list  "  Fayal  wines,  or  any  other  wines  of  the 
Western  Islands,  Madeira,  Malaga,  Canary,  Tent, 
and  Alcant."  Claret  was  not  popular.  The  con- 


Flip  Glasses  and  Nutmeg  Holders. 

sumption  of  sweet  wines  was  astonishing,  and  the 
quality  was  exceeding  good.  Spiced  wines  were 
much  sold  at  taverns,  sangaree  and  mulled  wines. 
Brigham's  Tavern  at  Westborough  had  a  simple 
recipe  for  mulled  wine  :  simply  a  quart  of  boiling 
hot  Madeira,  half  a  pint  of  boiling  water,  six  eggs 
beaten  to  a  froth,  all  sweetened  and  spiced.  Nut 
meg  was  the  favorite  flavoring,  and  nutmegs  gilded 
and  beribboned  were  an  esteemed  gift.  The  impor 
tation  of  them  was  in  early  days  wholly  controlled 
by  the  Dutch.  High  livers  —  bon  vivants  —  car- 


Small   Drink 


137 


ried  nutmegs  in  their  pockets,  fashionable  dames 
also.  One  of  the  prettiest  trinkets  of  colonial  times 
is  the  dainty  nutmeg  holder,  of  wrought  silver  or 
Battersea  enamel,  just  large  enough  to  hold  a  single 
nutmeg.  The  inside  of  the  cover  is  pierced  or  cor 
rugated  to  form  a  grater.  The  ones  now  before 
me,  both  a  century  and  a  half  old,  when  opened 
exhale  a  strong  aroma  of  nutmeg,  though  it  is  many 
a  year  since  they  have  been  used.  With  a  nutmeg 
in  a  pocket  holder,  the  exquisite  traveller,  whether 
man  or  woman,  could  be  sure  of  a  dainty  spiced 
wine  flavored  to  taste ;  "  atop  the  musky  nut  could 
grated  be,"  even  in  the  most  remote  tavern,  for 
wine  was  everywhere  to  be  found,  but  nutmegs 
were  a  luxury.  Negus,  a  washy  warm  wine-punch 
invented  in  Queen  Anne's  day  by  Colonel  Negus, 
was  also  improved  by  a  flavoring  of  nutmeg. 


CHAPTER    VII 

SIGNS    AND    SYMBOLS 

BEFORE  named  streets  with  numbered  houses 
came  into  existence,  and  when  few  persons 
could  read,  painted  and  carved  sign-boards 
and  figures  were  more  useful,  than  they  are  to-day; 
and  not  only  innkeepers,  but  men  of  all  trades  and 
callings  sought  for  signs  that  either  for  quaintness, 
appropriateness,  or  costliness  would  attract  the  eyes 
of  customers  and  visitors,  and  fix  in  their  memory 
the  exact  locality  of  the  advertiser.  Signs  were 
painted  and  carved  in  wood ;  they  were  carved  in 
stone ;  modelled  in  terra-cotta  and  plaster ;  painted 
on  tiles  ;  wrought  of  various  metals  ;  and  even  were 
made  of  animals'  heads  stuffed. 

As  education  progressed,  signs  were  less  needed, 
and  when  thoroughfares  were  named  and  sign-posts 
set  up  and  houses  numbered,  the  use  of  business 
signs  vanished.  They  lingered  sometimes  on  ac 
count  of  their  humor,  sometimes  because  they  were 
a  guarantee  of  an  established  business,  but  chiefly 
because  people  were  used  to  them. 

The  shops  in  Boston  were  known  by  sign-boards. 
In  1761  Daniel  Parker,  goldsmith,  was  at  the 

138 


Signs  and  Symbols  139 

Golden  Ball,  William  Whitmore,  grocer,  at  the 
Seven  Stars,  Susannah  Foster  was  "  next  the  Great 
Cross,"  and  John  Loring,  chemist,  at  the  Great 
Trees.  One  hatter  had  a  "  Hatt  &  Beaver,"  an 
other  a  "  Hatt  &  Helmit"  ;  butter  was  sold  at  the 
"  Blue  Glove  "  and  "  Brazen  Head  "  ;  dry-goods  at 
the  "  Sign  of  the  Stays  "  and  at  the  "  Wheat  Sheaf"  ; 
rum  at  the  "  Golden  Keys "  ;  pewter  ware  at  the 
"  Crown  and  Beehive  "  ;  knives  at  the  "  Sign  of  the 
Crown  and  Razor."  John  Crosby,  for  many  years 
a  noted  lemon  trader,  had  as  a  sign  a  basket  of 
lemons.  In  front  of  a  nautical  instrument  store  on 
the  corner  of  State  and  Broad  streets,  Boston,  still 
stands  a  quaint  wooden  figure  of  an  ancient  naval 
officer  resplendent  in  his  blue  coat,  cocked  hat, 
short  breeches,  stockings,  and  buckles,  holding  in 
his  hand  a  quadrant.  The  old  fellow  has  stood 
in  this  place,  continually  taking  observations  of  the 
sun,  for  upwards  of  one  hundred  years.  It  will  be 
seen  that  these  signs  were  often  incongruous  and 
non-significant,  both  as  to  their  relation  to  the  busi 
ness  they  indicated,  and  in  the  association  of  objects 
which  they  depicted. 

A  rhyme  printed  in  the  British  Apollo  in  1710 
notes  the  curious  combination  of  names  on  London 
sign-boards  :  — 

"I'm  amazed  at  the  signs 
As  I  pass  through  the  town  ; 
To  see  the  odd  mixture 
A  Magpie  and  Crown, 
The  Whale  and  the  Crow, 
The  Razor  and  Hen, 
The  Leg  and  Seven  Stars, 


140  Stage-coach  and  Tavern    Days 


The  Axe  and  the  Bottle, 
The  Sun  and  the  Lute, 
The  Eagle  and  Child, 
The  Shovel  and  Boot." 

Addison  wrote  nearly  two  centuries  ago  on  the 
absurdity  and  incongruity  of  these  sign-boards,  in 
The  Spectator  of  April  2,  17 10.  He  says,  advocat 
ing  a  censorship  of  sign-boards  :  — 

"  Our  streets  are  filled  with 
blue  boars,  black  swans,  and 
red  lions  ;  not  to  mention  fly 
ing  pigs,  and  hogs  in  armour, 
with  many  other  creatures 
more  extraordinary  than  any 
in  the  deserts  of  Africa.  My 
first  task  therefore  should  be 
like  that  of  Hercules,  to  clear 
the  city  from  monsters.  In 
the  second  place  I  would  for 
bid  that  creatures  of  jarring  and 
incongruous  natures  should 
be  joined  together  in  the  same 
sign ;  such  as  the  bell  and 
the  neat's  tongue ;  the  dog 
and  the  gridiron.  The  fox 
and  goose  may  be  supposed 
to  have  met,  but  what  have 
the  fox  and  the  seven  stars 
to  do  together  ?  And  when 
did  the  lamb  and  dolphin  ever 
meet,  except  upon  a  sign-post  ? 
As  for  the  cat  and  fiddle  there  is  a  conceit  in  it,  and  there 
fore  I  do  not  intend  that  anything  I  have  said  should  affect 


Sign-board  of  Stratton  Tavern. 


Signs  and  Symbols  141 

it.  I  must,  however,  observe  to  you  upon  this  subject,  that 
it  is  usual  for  a  young  tradesman,  at  his  first  setting  up,  to 
add  to  his  sign  that  of  the  master  whom  he  has  served;  as 
the  husband,  after  marriage,  gives  a  place  to  his  mistress's 
arms  in  his  own  coat.  This  I  take  to  have  given  rise  to 
many  of  those  absurdities  which  are  committed  over  our 
heads ;  and  as,  I  am  informed,  first  occasioned  the  three 
nuns  and  a  hare,  which  we  see  so  frequently  joined  together." 

Many  of  the  apparently  meaningless  names  on 
tavern  signs  come  through  the  familiar  corrup 
tions  of  generations  of  use,  through  alterations 
both  by  the  dialect  of  speakers  and  by  the  suc 
cessive  mistakes  of  ignorant  sign-painters.  Thus 
"  The  Bag  o'  Nails,"  a  favorite  sign,  was  origi 
nally  "  The  Bacchanalians."  The  familiar  "  Cat 
and  Wheel  "  was  the  "  Catherine  Wheel,"  and  still 
earlier  "  St.  Catherine's  Wheel,"  in  allusion  to  the 
saint  and  her  martyrdom.  The  "  Goat  and  Com 
pass  "  was  the  motto  "  God  encompasseth  us." 
"  The  Pig  and  Carrot "  was  the  "  Pique  et  Car- 
reau  "  (the  spade  and  diamond  in  playing  cards). 
Addison  thus  explains  the  "  Bell  Savage,"  a  com 
mon  sign  in  England,  usually  portrayed  by  an 
Indian  standing  beside  a  bell.  "  I  was  formerly 
very  much  puzzled  upon  the  conceit  of  it,  till  I 
accidentally  fell  into  the  reading  of  an  old  romance 
translated  out  of  the  French,  which  gives  an  account 
of  a  very  beautiful  woman  who  was  found  in  a 
wilderness,  and  is  called  in  French,  La  Belle  Sauvage, 
and  is  everywhere  translated  by  our  countrymen 
the  Bell  Savage." 

"The    Bull  and    Mouth"   celebrates  in  corrupt 


142  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

wording  the  victory  of  Henry  VIII.  in  "  Boulougne 
Mouth"  or  Harbor.  In  London  the  Bull  and 
Mouth  Inn  was  a  famous  coach  office,  and  the  sign 
board  bore  these  lines  :  — 

"  Milo  the  Cretonian 

An  ox  slew  with  his  fist, 
And  ate  it  up  at  one  meal, 

Ye  Gods  !  what  a  glorious  twist." 

Twist  was  the  old  cant  term  for  appetite. 

The  universal  use  of  sign-boards  furnished  em 
ployment  to  many  painters  of  inferior  rank,  and 
occasionally  even  to  great  artists,  who,  either  as  a 
freak  of  genius,  to  win  a  wager,  to  crown  a  carouse, 
or  perhaps  to  earn  with  ease  a  needed  sum,  painted 
a  sign-board.  At  the  head  of  this  list  is  Hogarth. 
Richard  Wilson  painted  "The  Three  Loggerheads  " 
for  an  ale-house  in  North  Wales.  George  Morland 
has  several  assigned  to  him  :  "  The  Goat  in  Boots," 
"The  White  Lion,"  "The  Cricketers."  Ibbetson 
paid  his  bill  to  Landlord  Burkett  after  a  sketching 
and  fishing  excursion  by  a  sign  with  one  pale  and 
wan  face  and  one  equally  rubicund.  The  accom 
panying  lines  read  :  — 

"  Thou  mortal  man  that  livest  by  bread, 
What  makes  thy  face  to  look  so  red  ? 
Thou  silly  fop  that  looks  so  pale, 
'Tis  red  with  Tommy  Burkett' s  ale." 

Gerome,  Cox,  Harlow,  and  Millais  swell  the  list 
of  English  sign-painters,  while  Holbein,  Correggio, 
Watteau,  Gerriault,  and  Horace  Vernet  make  a 
noble  company.  The  splendid  "Young  Bull"  of 


Signs  and  Symbols 


, 


Paul  Potter,  in  the  museum  of  The  Hague,  is 
to  have  been  painted  for  a  butcher's  sign. 

Benjamin  West 
painted  many  tavern 

signs  in  the  vicinity    , —  L<H_,  .-gfc> 

of  Philadelphia, 
among  them  in  1771 
that  of  the  Three 
Crowns,  a  noted 
hostelry  that  stood 
on  the  King's  High 
way  in  Salisbury 
Township,  Lancas 
ter  County.  This 
neighborhood  was 
partly  settled  by 
English  emigrants, 
and  the  old  tavern 
was  kept  by  a  Tory 
of  the  deepest  dye. 
The  sign-board  still 
bears  the  marks  of 
the  hostile  bullets 
of  the  Continental 
Army,  and  the  pro 
prietor  came  near 
sharing  the  bullets 
with  the  sign.  This 
Three  Crowns  was 
removed  in  1816 
to  the  Waterloo 

1  avem,     kept     by     a  Sign-board  of  Three  Crowns  Tavern. 


said 


- 


144  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

relative  of  the  old  landlord.  The  Waterloo  Tavern 
was  originally  the  Bull's  Head,  and  was  kept  by  a 
Revolutionary  officer.  Both  sides  of  the  Three 
Crowns  sign-board  are  shown  on  page  143.  By 
tradition  West  also  painted  the  sign-board  of  the 
old  Hat  Tavern  shown  on  page  147.  This  was 
kept  by  Widow  Caldwell  in  Leacock  Township, 
Lancaster  County,  on  the  old  Philadelphia  road. 

The  Bull's  Head  Inn  of  Philadelphia  had  a  sign 
suited  to  its  title ;  it  was  sold  in  the  middle  of  this 
century  to  an  Englishman  as  the  work  of  Benjamin 
West.  The  inn  stood  in  Strawberry  Alley,  and 
West  once  lived  in  the  alley ;  and  so  also  did 
Bernard  Wilton,  a  painter  and  glazier,  in  the  days 
when  the  inn  was  young  and  had  no  sign-board. 
And  as  the  glazier  sat  one  day  in  the  taproom,  a 
bull  ran  foaming  into  the  yard  and  thrust  his  head 
with  a  roar  in  the  tavern  window.  The  glazier  had 
a  ready  wit,  and  quoth  he :  "  This  means  some 
thing.  This  bull  thrust  his  head  in  as  a  sign,  so  it 
shall  be  the  sign  of  the  inn,  and  bring  luck  and 
custom  forever."  I  think  those  were  his  words  ;  at 
any  rate,  those  were  the  deeds. 

West  also  painted  the  "  Ale  Bearers."  One  side 
had  a  man  holding  a  glass  of  ale  and  looking 
through  it.  The  other  side  showed  two  brewers' 
porters  carrying  an  ale  cask  slung  with  case  hooks 
on  a  pole  —  as  was  the  way  of  ale  porters  at  that 
day.  It  is  said  that  West  was  offered  five  hundred 
dollars  for  a  red  lion  sign-board  he  had  painted  in 
his  youth.  In  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia  several 
taverns  claimed  to  have  sign-boards  painted  by  the 


Signs  and  Symbols 


MS 


Peales  and  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  and  an  artist  named 
Hicks  is  said  to  have  contributed  some  wonderful 
specimens  to  this  field  of  art. 

General  Wolfe  was  a  favorite  name  and  figure 
for  pre-Revolutionary  taverns  and  sign-boards. 
There  was  a  Wolfe  Tavern  near  Faneuil  Hall  in 
Boston ;  and  the  faded  sign-board  of  the  Wolfe 
Tavern  of  Brooklyn,  Connecticut,  is  shown  on 
page  211  as  it  swung  when  General  Israel  Put- 


Browne's  Hall,  Danvers,  Massachusetts,  1743. 

nam  was  the  tavern  landlord.  These  figures  of  the 
English  officer  were  usually  removed  as  obnoxious 
after  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  But  the 
Wolfe  Tavern  at  Newburyport  continued  to  swing 
the  old  sign  "  in  the  very  centre  of  the  place  to  be 
an  insult  to  this  truly  republican  town."  This  sign 
is  shown  in  its  spruce  freshness  on  page  180.  It  is 
a  great  contrast  to  "  Old  Put's  "  Wolfe  sign-board. 
A  Philadelphia  tavern  with  a  clumsy  name, 
though  a  significant  one,  was  the  Federal  Conven- 


146  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

tion  of  1787  Inn.  I  cannot  imagine  any  band  of 
tavern  tipplers  or  jovial  roisterers  ever  meeting 
there,  but  it  was  doubtless  used  for  political  gather 
ings.  It  had  a  most  pretentious  sign  painted  by 
Matthew  Pratt,  a  pupil  of  Benjamin  West.  It  was 
said  that  his  signs  were  painted  in  a  style  that  should 
have  given  them  place  in  a  picture  gallery,  had  it 
not  been  that  the  galleries  of  those  days  were  few, 
and  artists  found  their  most  lucrative  employment 
in  painting  signs  for  taverns  and  stores.  This  inn 
kept  first  by  a  man  named  Hanna,  then  by  George 
Poppal,  was  at  178  South  Street,  near  Fifth  Street. 
The  sign  was  a  painting  of  the  National  Convention 
which  met  May  14,  1787,  in  the  State  House  or 
Independence  Hall  to  frame  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  George  Washington  was  president, 
Mayor  William  Jackson  was  secretary.  The  con 
vention  met  in  the  East  Room,  which  was  distinctly 
and  correctly  represented  on  the  sign-board ;  its 
wainscoting,  the  Ionic  pilasters  supporting  a  full 
entablature  beneath  a  coved  ceiling,  all  were  taken 
down  by  a  "  Commissioner  of  Repairs,"  and  all  now 
are  happily  reproduced  and  restored.  On  one  side 
of  the  sign-board  Washington  was  seen  seated 
under  the  panel  bearing  the  arms  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  dignified  Judge  Wilson  occupied  the  chair,  and 
Franklin  sat  near.  All  the  heads  were  portraits. 
On  both  sides  of  the  sign-board  were  the  lines  :  — 

"  These  thirty-eight  men  together  have  agreed 
That  better  times  to  us  shall  very  soon  succeed." 

Watson,  w'riting  in  1857,  tells  of  the  end  of  this 
historic  sign-board  :  — 


Signs  and  Symbols 


u  This  invaluable  sign,  which  should  have  been  copied 
by  some  eminent  artist  and  engraved  for  posterity,  was 
bandied  about  like  the  Casa  Santa  of  Lorretto  from  post 
to  pillar  till  it  located  at  South  Street  near  the  Old  Theatre. 
The  figures  are  now  completely  obliterated  by  a  heavy  coat 
of  brown  paint  on  which  is  lettered  Fed.  Con.  1787." 


Hat  Tavern  and  Sign-board. 


This  offence  against  historic  decency  can  be  added 
to  the  many  other  crimes  against  good  taste  which 
lie  heavily  on  the  account  of  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Thejin  du  siecle  has  many  evils 
which  are  daily  rehearsed  to  us  ;  but  the  middle  of 
the  century  was  an  era  of  bad  taste,  dulness,  affected 
and  melancholic  sentimentality  and  commonplace- 
ness  in  dress,  architecture,  household  furnishings, 


148  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

literature,  society,  and  art  —  let  us  turn  from  it  with 
haste.  It  is  equalled  only  in  some  aspects  by  some 
of  the  decades  of  dulness  in  England  in  the  reign 
of  George  III. 

Another  sign-board  painted  by  Woodside  is  de 
scribed  in  Philadelphia  newspapers  of  August, 
1820:  — 

"UNION   HOTEL 

"  Samuel  E.  Warwick  respectfully  informs  his  friends 
and  the  public  generally  that  he  has  opened  a  house  of 
Entertainment  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Seventh  and  Cedar 
Streets,  and  has  copied  for  his  sign  Mr.  Binn's  beautiful 
copperplate  engraving  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
by  that  justly  celebrated  artist,  Mr.  Woodside  :  — 

"  Whate'er  may  tend  to  soothe  the  soul  below, 
To  dry  the  tear  and  blunt  the  shaft  of  woe, 
To  drown  the  ills  that  discompose  the  mind, 
All  those  who  drink  at  Warwick's  Inn  shall  find." 

The  Revolutionary  War  developed  originality 
in  American  tavern  signs.  The  "  King's  Arms," 
"  King's  Head,"  "  St.  George  and  the  Dragon," 
and  other  British  symbols  gave  place  to  rampant 
American  eagles  and  portraits  of  George  Wash 
ington.  Every  town  had  a  Washington  Tavern, 
with  varied  Washington  sign-boards.  That  of  the 
Washington  Hotel  at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  is  on 
page  63. 

The  landlord  of  the  Washington  Inn  at  Holmes- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  one  James  Carson,  issued  this 
address  in  1816  :  — 


UN  IV  ERSITY 
Signs  and  Symbols 


"Ye  good  and  virtuous  Americans  —  come!  whether 
business  or  pleasure  be  your  object  —  call  and  be  refreshed 
at  the  sign  of  Washington.  Here  money  and  merit  will 
secure  you  respect  and  honor,  and  a  hearty  welcome  to 
choice  liquors  and  to  sumptuous  fare.  Is  it  cold  ?  You 
shall  find  a  comfortable  fire.  Is  it  warm  ?  Sweet  repose 
under  a  cool  and  grassy  shade.  In  short,  every  exertion 
shall  be  made  to  grace  the  sign  of  the  hero  and  statesman 
who  was  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts 
of  his  countrymen." 

On  Beach  Street  a  tavern,  with  the  name  Wash 
ington  Crossing  the  Delaware,  had  as  a  sign-board  a 
copy  of  Sully's  famous  picture.  This  must  have 
been  a  costly  luxury.  A  similar  one  used  as  a 
bridge  sign-board  is  on  page  239. 

About  1840  one  Washington  Tavern  in  Phila 
delphia,  on  Second  and  Lombard  streets,  displayed 
a  sign  which  was  a  novelty  at  that  time.  It  was 
what  was  known  as  a  "slat-sign";  perpendicular 
strips  or  slats  were  so  set  on  the  sign  that  one  view 
or  picture  was  shown  upon  taking  a  full  front  view, 
a  second  by  looking  at  it  from  one  side,  a  third 
from  the  other.  The  portrait  of  Washington  and 
other  appropriate  pictures  were  thus  shown. 

Other  patriotic  designs  became  common,  —  the 
Patriotic  Brothers  having  a  sign  representing  the 
Temple  of  Liberty  with  weapons  of  war.  On 
the  steps  of  the  temple  a  soldier  and  sailor  grasp 
hands,  with  the  motto,  "  Where  Liberty  dwells, 
there  is  my  country." 

A  very  interesting  sign  is  in  the  possession  of  the 
Connecticut  Historical  Society.  It  is  shown  on 


150  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

page  28.  This  sign  is  unusual  in  that  it  is  carved 
in  good  outline  on  one  side  with  the  British  coat 
of  arms,  and  on  the  other  a  full-rigged  ship  under 
full  sail,  flying  the  Union  Jack.  At  the  top  on 
each  side  are  the  letters  U.  A.  H.,  and  1766.  It 
is  enclosed  in  a  heavy  frame,  with  heavy  hangers  of 
iron  keyed  to  suspend  from  a  beam. 

The  initials  U.  A.  H.  stand  for  Uriah  and  Ann 
Hayden,  who  kept  the  tavern  for  which  this  board 
was  the  sign.  It  stood  near  the  river  in  Essex, 
then  Pettspung  Parish,  in  the  town  of  Saybrook, 
Connecticut.  The  sign  was  relegated  to  a  garret 
when  the  British  lion  and  unicorn  were  in  such 
disrepute  in  the  new  land  of  freedom,  and,  being 
forgotten,  was  thus  preserved  to  our  own  day. 

An  old  sign  shown  on  pages  151  and  153  swung 
for  nearly  a  century  by  the  roadside  before  a  house 
called  Bissell's  Tavern,  at  Bissell's  Ferry,  East 
Windsor,  Connecticut.  Originally  it  bore  an  elabo 
rate  design  of  thirteen  interlacing  rings,  each  having 
in  its  centre  the  representation  of  some  tree  or  plant 
peculiar  to  the  state  it  designated.  These  interlac 
ing  links  surrounded  the  profile  portrait  of  George 
Washington.  Above  this  was  the  legend,  "  The 
13  United  States."  Beneath  this,  "Entertainment 
by  David  Bissell,  A.D.  1777."  Ten  years  later  the 
words  David  Bissell  were  painted  out  and  E.  Wol- 
cott  substituted.  The  date  1787  was  also  placed  in 
both  upper  corners  of  the  board.  In  1801  the  sign 
and  house  came  to  Joseph  Phelps.  A  new  design 
was  given:  a  copy  of  the  first  gold  eagle  of  1795, 
and  on  the  other  the  reverse  side  of  same  coin  and 


Signs  and  Symbols 

the  name  J.  Phelps.  In  1816  J.  Pelton  bought  the 
Ferry  Tavern,  and  he  painted  out  all  of  J.  Phelps's 
name  save  the  initials,  which  were  his  own.  He 
hung  the  sign  on  the 
limb  of  a  big  elm  tree 
over  the  Ferry  road. 

Arad  Stratton,  who 
kept  the  old  tavern  at 
Northfield  Farms,  had  a 
splendid  eagle  on  his 
sign-board,  which  is 
shown  on  page  140. 
This  tavern  built  in  1724 
was  pulled  down  in  1 820. 

William  Pitt's  face 
and  figure  frequently 
appeared  on  sign-boards. 
One  is  shownonpage  1 56 
which  hung  at  the  door 
of  the  Pitt  Tavern  in 
Lancaster,  Pennsylva 
nia.  This  tavern  was 
kept  from  1808  to  1838 

by  Landlord  Henry  Diffenbaugh.  The  sign-board 
was  painted  by  an  artist  named  Eicholtz,  a  pupil  of 
Sully  and  of  Gilbert  Stuart,  whose  work  he  imitated 
and  copied. 

A  small,  single-storied  ancient  tavern  used  to 
stand  near  the  old  Swedes'  church.  Over  the  door 
was  a  sign  with  an  old  hen  with  a  brood  of  chickens  ; 
an  eagle  hovered  over  them  with  a  crown  in  its 
beak ;  the  inscription  was :  "  May  the  Wings  of 


Sign-board  of  Bissell's  Tavern. 


1 52  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

Liberty  cover  the  Chickens  of  Freedom,  and  pluck 
the  Crown  from  the  Enemy's  Head/'  This  was  a 
high  flight  of  fancy,  and  the  Hen  and  Chickens  was 
doubtless  vastly  admired  in  those  days  of  high  sen 
timent  and  patriotism  after  the  Revolution. 

Lafayette  and  Franklin  showed  their  fame  in 
many  a  sign-board.  When  the  sign  of  the  Franklin 
Inn  was  set  up  in  Philadelphia  in  1774,  it  bore  this 
couplet :  — 

"  Come  view  your  patriot  father  !  and  your  friend, 
And  toast  to  Freedom  and  to  slavery's  end." 

John  Hancock  was  another  popular  patriot  seen  on 
tavern  signs.  The  sign-board  which  hung  for  many 
years  before  John  Duggan's  hostelry,  the  Hancock 
Tavern  in  Corn  Court,  is  shown  on  page  110. 
This  portrait  crudely  resembles  one  of  Hancock,  by 
Copley,  and  is  said  to  have  been  painted  by  order 
of  Hancock's  admirer,  Landlord  Duggan.  At 
Hancock's  death  it  was  draped  with  mourning 
emblems.  It  swung  for  many  years  over  the  nar 
row  alley  shown  on  page  182,  till  it  blew  down  in  a 
heavy  wind  and  killed  a  citizen.  Then  it  was 
nailed  to  the  wall,  and  thereby  injured.  It  was 
preserved  in  Lexington  Memorial  Hall,  but  has 
recently  been  returned  to  Boston. 

It  was  natural  that  horses,  coaches,  and  sporting 
subjects  should  be  favorites  for  tavern  signs.  A 
very  spirited  one  is  that  of  the  Perkins  Inn,  at 
Hopkinton,  New  Hampshire,  dated  1786,  and 
showing  horse,  rider,  and  hounds.  The  Williams 
Tavern  of  Centrebrook,  Connecticut,  stood  on  the 


Signs  and  Symbols 


'53 


old  Hartford  and  Saybrook  turnpike.  One  side 
of  its  swinging  sign  displayed  a  coach  and  horses. 
It  is  shown  on  page  400.  The  other,  on  page  396, 
portrays  a  well-fed  gentleman  seated  at  a  well-spread 
table  sedately  drinking  a  glass  of  wine.  Sign-boards 
with  figures  of  horses  were  common,  such  as  that  of 
the  Hays  Tavern,  page 
65  ;  of  the  Conkey 
Tavern,  page  190;  of 
Mowry's  Inn,  page  57  ; 
and  of  the  Pembroke 
Tavern,  page  217. 

Of  course  beasts  and 
birds  furnished  many 
symbolsforsign  painters. 
On  the  site  where  the 
Northfield  Seminary 
buildings  now  stand, 
stood  until  1880  the  old 
Doolittle  Tavern.  It 
was  on  the  main -trav 
elled  road  from  Con 
necticut  through  Mas 
sachusetts  to  southern 
New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont.  Its  sign 
board,  dated  1781,  is  on  page  158.  It  bore  a  large 
rabbit  and  two  miniature  pine  trees. 

Joseph  Cutter,  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  kept  an 
inn  in  Jaffray,  New  Hampshire,  on  the  "  Brattle- 
boro'  Pike"  from  Boston.  His  sign-board  bore 
the  figure  of  a  demure  fox.  It  is  shown  on  page  412. 


Sign-board  of  Bissell's  Tavern. 


154  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Indian  chiefs  were  a  favorite  subject  for  sign 
boards  ;  three  are  here  shown,  one  on  page  203, 
from  the  Stickney  Tavern  of  Concord,  New  Hamp 
shire  ;  another  on  page  382,  from  the  Wells  Tavern 
at  Greenfield  Meadows,  Massachusetts  ;  a  third  on 
page  310,  from  the  Tarleton  Inn  of  Haverhill,  New 
Hampshire. 

Two  Beehive  Taverns,  one  in  Philadelphia,  one 
in  Frankford,  each  bore  the  sign-board  a  beehive 
with  busy  bees.  The  motto  on  the  former,  "  By 
Industry  We  Thrive,"  was  scarcely  so  appropriate 
as  — 

"  Here  in  this  hive  we're  all  alive, 

Good  liquor  makes  us  funny. 
If  you  are  dry,  step  in  and  try 
The  flavor  of  our  honey." 

The  sign-board  of  Walker's  Tavern,  a  famous 
house  of  entertainment  in  Charlestown,  New 
Hampshire,  is  shown  on  page  162.  It  bears  a  bee 
hive  and  bees.  This  sign  is  now  owned  by  the 
Worcester  Society  of  Antiquity. 

The  Washington  Hotel,  at  the  corner  of  Sixth 
and  Carpenter  streets,  had  several  landlords,  and  in 
1822  became  the  New  Theatre  Hotel.  Woodside 
painted  a  handsome  sign,  bearing  a  portrait  of  the 
famous  old  actor  and  theatrical  manager,  William 
Warren,  as  Falstaff,  with  the  inscription,  "  Shall  I 
not  take  mine  ease  at  my  inn  ?  "  A  writer  in  the 
Despatch  says  the  tavern  did  not  prosper,  though 
its  rooms  were  let  for  meetings  of  clubs,  societies, 
audits,  and  legal  proceedings.  It  was  leased  by 
Warren  himself  in  1830,  and  still  the  tavern  de- 


Signs  and  Symbols  i^ 

cayed.  He  left  it  and  died,  and  the  fine  sign-board 
faded,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  plain  lettering, 
Fallstaff  Inn,  and  the  appropriate  motto,  chosen  by 
Warren,  gave  place  to  "  Bring  me  a  cup  of  sack, 
Hal."  The  place  was  a  "  horrible  old  rattletrap," 
and  was  soon  and  deservedly  demolished. 

The  Raleigh  Inn,  in  Third  Street,  showed  the 
story  of  the  servant  throwing  water  over  the  noble 
man  at  the  sight  of  smoke  issuing  from  his  mouth. 
This  was  a  favorite  tale  of  the  day,  and  the  por 
trayal  of  it  may  be  seen  in  many  an  old-time  picture- 
book  for  children. 

On  Thirteenth  Street,  near  Locust,  was  a  sign 
copied  from  a  London  one  :  — 

"I  William  McDermott  lives  here, 
I  sells  good  porter,  ale,  and  beer, 
I've  made  my  sign  a  little  wider 
To  let  you  know  I  sell  good  cider." 

On  the  Germantown  road  the  Woodman  Tavern 
had  a  sign-board  with  a  woodman,  axe,  and  the  fol 
lowing  lines  :  — 

"In  Freedom's  happy  land 
My  task  of  duty  done, 
In  Mirth's  light-hearted  band 

Why  not  the  lowly  woodman  one  ?  " 

The  Yellow  Cottage  was  a  well-known  Philadel 
phia  tavern,  half  citified,  half  countrified.  Its  sign 
read :  — 

"  Rove  not  from  sign  to  sign,  but  stop  in  here, 
Where  naught  exceeds  the  prospect  but  the  beer." 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


These  lines  were  a  paraphrase  of  the  witty  and 
celebrated  sign,  said  to  have  been  written  by  Dean 
Swift  for  a  barber  who  kept  a  public  house  :  — 

"  Rove  not  from  pole  to  pole,  but  stop  in  here, 
Where  naught  excels  the  shaving  but  the  beer." 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  Fortunes  of  Nigel,,  gives 
this  version  as  a  chapter  motto  :  — 

"  Rove  not  from  pole  to  pole  —  the  man  lives  here, 
Whose  razor's  only  equalled  by  his  beer." 

Entering  a  large  double  gate,  the  passer-by  who 
was  seduced  by  this  sign  of  the  Yellow  Cottage  walked 

up  a  grand  walk  to  this 
cottage,  which  was  sur 
rounded  by  a  brick  pave 
ment  about  five  feet  wide 
which  was  closely  bordered 
in  front  and  sides  by  lilac 
bushes  and  some  shrubs 
called  "  Washington's 
bowers."  These  concealed 
all  the  lower  story  on  three 
sides  except  the  front  en 
trance.  If  you  could  pass 
the  bar,  you  could  go  out 
the  back  entrance  to  a  porch 
which  extended  across  the 
back  of  the  house.  Here 
card-playing,  dominos,  etc., 
constantly  went  on;  thence 
down  a  sloping  field,  at  the 


Sign-board  ol 


Tavern. 


Signs  and  Symbols  157 

end  of  the  field,  was  an  exit.  On  one  side  of  this 
field  was  a  stable,  chicken-house,  and  pens  which 
always  held  for  view  a  fat  hog  or  ox  or  some  un 
usual  natural  object.  Shooting  parties  were  held 
here ;  quoit-playing,  axe-throwing,  weight-lifting, 
etc. ;  and  it  had  also  a  charming  view  of  the  river. 

Biblical  names  were  not  common  on  tavern  sign 
boards.  "  Adam  and  Eveses  Garden  "  in  Philadel 
phia  was  not  a  Garden  of  Eden.  This  was  and  is  a 
common  title  in  England.  Noah's  Ark  seems  some 
what  inappropriate.  The  Angel  had  originally  a 
religious  significance.  The  Bible  and  Peacock  seems 
less  appropriate  than  the  Bible  and  Key,  for  divina 
tion  by  Bible  and  key  has  ever  been  as  universal  in 
America  as  in  England. 

In  Philadelphia,  on  Shippen  Street,  between 
Third  and  Fourth,  was  a  tavern  sign  representing 
a  sailor  and  a  woman,  separated  by  these  two  lines  :  — 

"The  sea-worn  sailor  here  will  find 
The  porter  good,  the  treatment  kind." 

No  doubt  thirsty  tars  found  this  sign  most 
attractive ;  more  so,  I  am  sure,  than  the  pretentious 
sign  of  Lebanon  Tavern,  corner  of  Tenth  and 
South  streets.  This  sign  was  painted  by  the  artist 
Pratt.  On  one  side  was  Neptune  in  his  chariot, 
surrounded  by  Tritons  ;  underneath  the  lines  :  - 

"  Neptune  with  his  triumphant  host 
Commands  the  ocean  to  be  silent, 
Smooths  the  surface  of  its  waters, 
And  universal  calm  succeeds." 


158  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

On   the   other   side   a   marine   view   of  ships,   etc 
with  the  lines  :  — 

"  Now  calm  at  sea  and  peace  on  land 
Have  blest  our  Continental  stores, 
Our  fleets  are  ready,  at  command, 
To  sway  and  curb  contending  powers." 

As  the  sign  purveyor  dropped  easily  into  verse, 
albeit  of  the  blankest  type,  these 
lines  surmounted  the  door  :  — 

"  Of  the  waters  of  Lebanon 

Good  cheer,  good  chocolate,  and  tea, 
With  kind  entertainment 
By  John  Kennedy." 

Chocolate  and  tea  seem  but 
dull  bait  to  lure  the  sailor  of  that 
day.  The  Three  Jolly  Sailors 
showed  their  cheerful  faces  on  a 
sign-board  appropriately  found 
on  Water  Street.  One  of  the 
tars  was  busy  strapping  a  block, 
and  the  legend  below  read :  — 

"  Brother  Sailor!  please  to  stop 

And  lend  a  hand  to  strap  this  block; 
For  if  you  do  not  stop  or  call, 
Sign-board  of  Doolittle  Tavern.        I  cannot  strap  this  block  at  all." 

In  Castleford,  England,  the  Three  Jolly  Sailors 
has  a  different  rhyme  :  — 

"  Coil  up  your  ropes  and  anchor  here, 
Till  better  weather  does  appear." 


Signs  and  Symbols  159 

In  Boston  the  Ship  in  Distress  was  a  copy  of 
a  famous  sign-board  which  hung  in  Brighton, 
England,  a  century  ago.  Both  had  the  appealing 
lines  :  — 

"  With  sorrows  I  am  compassed  round, 
Pray  lend  a  hand,  my  ship's  aground." 

Tippling-houses  in  both  Philadelphia  and  Boston 
had  a  sign-board  painted  with  a  tree,  a  bird,  a  ship, 
and  a  can  of  beer,  and  these  quaint  lines,  an  excellent 
tavern  rhyme :  - 

"  This  is  the  tree  that  never  grew, 
This  is  the  bird  that  never  flew, 
This  is  the  ship  that  never  sailed, 
This  is  the  mug  that  never  failed." 

Other  Philadelphia  sign-boards  of  especial  allure 
ment  to  sailors  were  "  The  Wounded  Tar,"  "  The 
Top-Gallant,"  "The  Brig  and  Snow,"  "  The  Jolly 
Sailors,"  "  The  Two  Sloops,"  "  The  Boatswain  and 
Call,"  and  "The  Dolphin."  The  sign-board  of 
the  Poore  Tavern  (page  405)  shows  a  ship  under 
full  sail. 

In  a  small  Philadelphia  alley  running  from  Spruce 
Street  to  Lock  Street,  was  a  sign-board  lettered  "  A 
Man  Full  of  Trouble."  It  bore  also  a  picture  of 
a  man  on  whose  arm  a  woman  was  leaning,  and  a 
monkey  was  perched  on  his  shoulder,  and  a  bird,  ap 
parently  a  parrot,  stood  on  his  hand.  The  woman 
carried  a  bandbox,  on  the  top  of  which  sat  a  cat. 
This  sign  has  a  long  history.  It  was  copied  from 
the  famous  sign-board  of  an  old  ale-house  still  in 
Oxford  Street,  London  ;  (it  is  here  shown,  opposite 


160  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

this  page).  It  is  said  to  have  been  painted  by 
Hogarth ;  at  any  rate,  it  is  valued  enough  to  be 
specified  in  the  lease  of  the  premises  as  one  of  the  fix 
tures.  The  name  by  which  it  is  known  in  London 
is  The  Man  Loaded  with  Mischief.  The  bird  is 
a  magpie,  and  the  woman  holds  a  glass  of  gin  in  her 
hand.  In  the  background  at  one  side  is  a  pot 
house,  at  the  other  a  pawnbroker's  shop.  The 
engraving  of  this  sign  is  signed  "  Drawn  by  Experi 
ence,  Engraved  by  Sorrow,"  and  the  rhyme:  — 

"  A  monkey,  a  magpie,  and  a  wife 
Is  the  true  emblem  of  strife." 

A  similar  sign  is  in  Norwich,  another  in  Blew- 
bury,  England.  One  inn  is  called  The  Mischief 
Inn,  the  other  The  Load  of  Mischief.  Still 
another,  at  Cambridge,  England,  showed  the  man 
and  woman  fastened  together  with  a  chain  and  pad 
lock.  A  kindred  French  sign-board  is  called  Le  trio 
de  Malice  (the  trio  being  a  cat,  woman,  and  monkey). 

An  old  Philadelphia  tavern  on  Sixth  Street,  below 
Catherine  Street,  had  the  curious  name,  The  Four 
Alls.  The  meaning  was  explained  by  the  painting 
on  the  sign,  which  was  a  very  large  one.  It  rep 
resented  a  palace,  on  the  steps  of  which  stood  a 
king,  an  officer  in  uniform,  a  clergyman  in  gown  and 
bands,  and  a  laborer  in  plain  dress.  The  satirical 
inscription  read  :  — 

"i.  King  —  I  govern  AIL 

2.  General  —  I  fight  for  All. 

3.  Minister  —  I  pray  for  All. 

4.  Laborer  —  And  I  pay  for  All." 


A  Man  Loaded  with  Mischief. 


Signs  and  Symbols  161 

This  is  an  old  historic  sign,  which  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  streets  of  Malta.  In  Holland,  two 
hundred  years  ago,  there  were  four  figures,  —  a 
soldier,  parson,  lawyer,  and  farmer.  The  three  said 
their  "All  "  just  as  in  the  Philadelphia  sign-board, 
but  the  farmer  answered  :  — 

"  Of  gy  vecht,  of  gy  bidt,  of  gy  pleyt, 
Ik  bin  de  boer  die  de  eyeren  layt." 

"You  may  fight,  you  may  pay,  you  may  plead, 
but  I  am  the  farmer  who  lays  the  eggs,"  -that  is, 
finds  the  money  for  it  all.  Sometimes  the  English 
sign-painters  changed  the  lettering  to  The  Four 
Awls.  There  are  several  epigrams  using  the  word 
"all"  ;  one,  an  address  to  Janus  I.,  is  in  the  Ash- 
molean  Mss.  It  begins  :  — 

"  The  Lords  craved  all, 
The  Queen  granted  all, 
The  Ladies  of  Honour  ruled  all,"  etc. 

A  famous  old  English  sign  was  "  The  Man 
Making  His  Way  Through  the  World."  The 
design  was  a  terrestrial  globe  with  the  head  and 
shoulders  of  a  naked  man  breaking  out  like  a  chick 
out  of  an  egg-shell ;  his  nakedness  betokened 
extreme  poverty.  In  Holland  a  similar  sign 
reads,  "  Thus  far  have  I  got  through  the  World." 
One  in  England  shows  the  head  coming  out  in 
Russia,  while  the  feet  stick  out  at  South  America. 
The  man  says,  "  Help  me  through  this  World." 
This  sign  is  sometimes  called  the  Struggling  Man. 
It  was  displayed  in  front  of  a  well-known  Phila- 


l62 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


delphia  inn,  and  also  on  one  at  the  South  End  in 
Boston.  The  story  was  told  by  a  Revolutionary 
officer  that  during  that  war  a  forlorn  regiment  of 
Continentals  halted  after  a  weary  march  from 

Providence,  in  front 
of  the  Boston  tavern 
and  the  Struggling 
Man.  The  soldiers 
were  broken  with  fa 
tigue,  covered  with 
mud,  and  ravenous 
for  food  and  drink. 
One  glared  angrily 
at  the  sign-board  and 
at  once  roared  out 
with  derision:  "'List, 
durn  ye  !  'List,  and 
you'llgetthroughthis 
world  fast  enough  !  " 
Both  in  Philadel 
phia  and  Boston  was 
found  thesign  known 
as  the  Good  Woman, 
the  Quiet  Woman,  or 
the  Silent  Woman, 
which  was  a  woman 
without  a  head.  The 
sign,  originally  intended  to  refer  to  some  saint  who 
had  met  death  by  losing  her  head,  was  naturally 
too  tempting  and  apparent  a  joke  to  be  overlooked. 
New  Chelmsford  in  England  had  until  recently  a 
sign-board  with  the  Good  Woman  on  one  side  and 


Sign-board  of  Walker's  Tavern. 


Signs  and  Symbols  163 

King  Henry  VIII.  on  the  other.  In  this  case 
the  Good  Woman  may  have  been  Anne  Boleyn. 

A  popular  Philadelphia  inn  was  the  one  which 
bore  the  sign  of  the  "  Golden  Lion/'  standing  on 
its  hind  legs.  Lions  fell  into  disrepute  at  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  and  the  gallant  animal  that  was 
a  lion  in  its  youth  became  the  Yellow  Cat  in 
middle  and  old  age.  It  was  a  vastly  popular  cat, 
however,  vending  beer  and  porter  of  highest  repute. 
It  was  kept  in  ancient  fashion  unchanged  until  its 
antiquity  made  it  an  object  alike  of  dignity  and 
interest  —  in  fact,  until  our  own  day.  With  its 
worn  and  sanded  floor,  tables  unpainted,  and 
snowy  with  daily  scrubbing ;  with  tallow  candles 
when  gas  lighted  every  "  saloon  "  in  the  city ;  with 
the  old-time  bar  fenced  up  to  the  ceiling  with  rails, 
it  had  an  old  age  as  golden  as  its  youth.  Susan, 
an  ancient  maiden  of  prehistoric  age,  fetched  up 
the  beer  in  old  pewter  mugs  on  a  pewter  platter, 
and  presented  a  pretzel  with  each  mug. 

The  great  variety  of  tavern-signs  in  Philadelphia 
was  noted  even  by  Englishmen,  who  were  certainly 
acquainted  with  variety  and  number  at  home.  The 
Englishman  Palmer  wrote  during  his  visit  in 


"We  observed  several  curious  tavern  signs  in  Philadel 
phia  and  on  the  roadside,  among  others  Noah's  Ark  ;  a 
variety  of  Apostles  ;  Bunyan's  Pilgrim  ;  a  cock  on  a  lion's 
back,  crowing,  with  Liberty  issuing  from  his  beak ;  naval 
engagements  in  which  the  British  are  in  a  desperate  situa 
tion  ;  the  most  common  signs  are  eagles,  heads  of  public 
characters,  Indian  Kings,  &c." 


164  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

There  had  been  so  many  sign-boards  used  by 
business  firms  in  Philadelphia,  that  they  had  been 
declared  public  nuisances,  and  in  1770  all  sign 
boards,  save  those  of  innkeepers,  had  been  ordered 
to  be  taken  down  and  removed. 

From  a  famous  old  hostelry  in  Dedham,  swung 
from  the  years  1658  to  1730  the  sign-board  of 
Lieutenant  Joshua  Fisher,  surveyor,  apothecary, 
innholder,  and  officer  of  "  ye  trayne  band,"  and  his 
son  and  successor,  Captain  Fisher  —  also  Joshua. 
About  1735  one  of  the  latter' s  daughters  married 
Dr.  Nathaniel  Ames,  who  had  already  started  that 
remarkable  series  of  annual  publications,  familiar 
now  to  antiquaries,  and  once  to  all  New  England 
householders,  as  Ames  Almanack.  The  first  of 
these  interesting  almanacs  had  appeared  in  1726, 
when  Ames  was  only  seventeen  years  old,  but  he 
was  assisted  by  his  astronomer  father.  After  the 
death  successively  of  his  wife  and  infant  child,  the 
doctor  entered  into  a  famous  lawsuit  with  the  family 
of  his  sisters-in-law  for  the  tenure  of  the  land  and 
inn  ;  and  the  turning-point  of  the  suit  hung  upon 
the  settlement  of  the  term  "  next  of  kin/* 

By  ancient  common  law  and  English  law  real 
property  never  ascended,  that  is,  was  never  inherited 
by  a  father  or  mother  from  a  child;  but  in  absence 
of  husband,  wife,  or  lineal  descendant  passed  on  to 
the  "  next  of  kin,"  which  might  be  a  distant  cousin. 
By  general  interpretation  the  Province  Laws  sub 
stituted  the  so-called  civilian  method  of  counting 
kinship,  by  which  the  father  could  inherit. 

Twice  defeated  in  the  courts.  Dr.  Ames  boldly 


Signs  and  Symbols 


165 


pushed  his  case  in  1748  before  the  "  Superior  Court 
of  Judicature,  etc.,  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay/'  himself  preparing  unaided  both  case  and  argu 
ment,  and  he  triumphed.  By  the  Province  Laws 
he  was  given  full 
possession  of  the 
property  inher 
ited  by  his  in 
fant  child  from 
the  mother  — 


thus  the  inn  be 
came  Ames  Tav 
ern. 

Nervous  in 
temperament,  ex 
cited  by  his  vic 
tory,  indignant  at 
the  injustice  and 
loss  to  which  he 
had  been  sub 
jected,  he  was 
loudly  intoler 
ant  of  the  law's 
delay,  and  espe 
cially  of  the  fail 
ure  of  Chief  Jus 
tice  Dudley  and 
his  associate  Lynde,  to  unite  with  the  three  other 
judges,  Saltonstall,  Sewall,  and  Cushing,  in  the  ver 
dict;  and  in  anger  and  derision  he  had  painted  for  him 
and  his  tavern  a  new  and  famous  sign,  and  he  hung 
it  in  front  of  the  tavern  in  caricature  of  the  court. 


Drawing  for  Ames'  Sign-board. 


1 66  Stage-coach  and   Tavern   Days 

The  sign  is  gone  long  ago  ;  but  in  that  entertain 
ing  book,  The  Almanacks  of  Nathaniel  Ames  1726- 
7775,  the  author,  Sam  Briggs,  gives  an  illustration 
of  the  painting  from  a  drawing  found  among  Dr. 
Ames'  papers  after  his  death,  a  copy  of  which  is 
shown  on  the  foregoing  page.  On  the  original 
sketch  these  words  are  written  :  — 

"Sir  :  —  I  wish  could  have  some  talk  on  ye  above  sub 
ject,  being  the  bearer  waits  for  an  answer  shal  only  observe 
Mr  Greenwood  thinks  yl  can  not  be  done  under  ^40  Old 
Tenor." 

This  was  a  good  price  to  pay  to  lampoon  the 
court,  for  the  sign  represented  the  whole  court  sit 
ting  in  state  in  big  wigs  with  an  open  book  before 
them  entitled  Province  Laws.  The  dissenting 
judges,  Dudley  and  Lynde,  were  painted  with  their 
backs  turned  to  the  book.  The  court,  hearing  of 
the  offending  sign-board,  sent  the  sheriff  from  Bos 
ton  to  bring  it  before  them.  Dr.  Ames  was  in 
Boston  at  the  time,  heard  of  the  order,  rode  with 
speed  to  Dedham  in  advance  of  the  sheriff,  removed 
the  sign,  and  it  is  said  had  allowance  of  time  suffi 
cient  to  put  up  a  board  for  the  reception  of  the 
officer  with  this  legend,  "  A  wicked  and  adulterous 
generation  seeketh  after  a  sign,  but  there  shall  no 
sign  be  given  it." 

The  old  road  house,  after  this  episode  in  its  his 
tory,  became  more  famous  than  ever  before ;  and 
The  Almanac  was  a  convenient  method  of  its  adver 
tisement,  as  it  was  of  its  distance  from  other  taverns. 
In  the  issue  of  1751  is  this  notice:  — 


Signs  and  Symbols  167 

"  ADVERTISEMENT. 

"  These  are  to  signify  to  all  Persons  that  travel  the  great 
Post-Road  South  West  from  Boston  That  I  keep  a  house 
of  Public  Entertainment  Eleven  Miles  from  Boston  at  the 
sign  of  the  Sun.  If  they  want  Refreshment  and  see  Cause 
to  be  my  Guests,  they  shall  be  well  entertained  at  a  rea 
sonable  rate. 

N.  AMES." 

Here  lived  the  almanac-maker  for  fifteen  years ; 
here  were  born  by  a  second  wife  his  famous  sons, 
Dr.  Nathaniel  Ames  and  Hon.  Fisher  Ames. 
Here  in  1774  his  successor  in  matrimony  and 
tavern-keeping,  one  Richard  Woodward,  kept  open 
house  in  September,  1774,  for  the  famous  Suffolk 
Convention,  where  was  chosen  the  committee  that 
drafted  the  first  resolutions  in  favor  of  trying  the 
issue  with  Great  Britain  with  -the  sword.  My  great 
grandfather  was  a  member  of  this  convention  at 
Ames  Tavern,  and  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  that 
this  was  the  birthplace  of  the  War  for  Independence. 
During  the  Revolution,  as  in  the  French  and  Indian 
War,  the  tavern  doors  swung  open  with  constant 
excitement  and  interest.  Washington,  Lafayette, 
Hancock,  Adams,  and  scores  of  other  patriots  sat 
and  drank  within  its  walls.  It  stood  through 
another  war,  that  of  1812,  and  in  1817  its  historic 
walls  were  levelled  in  the  dust. 

The  tavern  sign-board  was  not  necessarily  or 
universally  one  of  the  elaborate  emblems  I  have 
described.  Often  it  was  only  a  board  painted 
legibly  with  the  tavern  name.  It  might  be  attached 


1 68  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


Buckhorn  Tavern. 

to  a  wooden  arm  projecting  from  the  tavern  or  a 
post ;  it  might  be  hung  from  a  near-by  tree.  Often 
a  wrought-iron  arm,  shaped  like  a  fire  crane,  held  the 
sign-board.  The  ponderous  wooden  sign  of  the 
Barre  Hotel  hung  from  a  substantial  frame  erected  on 
the  green  in  front  of  the  tavern.  Two  upright  poles 
about  twenty  feet  long  were  set  five  feet  apart,  with  a 
weather-vane  on  top  of  each  pole.  A  bar  stretched 
from  pole  to  pole  and  held  the  sign-board.  A  draw 
ing  of  it  from  an  old  print  is  shown  on  page  280. 

Rarely  signs  were  hung  from  a  beam  stretched 
across  the  road  on  upright  posts.  It  is  said  there 
are  twenty-five  such  still  remaining  and  now  in  use 
in  England.  A  friend  saw  one  at  the  village 

O  O 

of  Barley  in  Herts,  the  Fox  and  Hounds.  The 
figures  were  cut  out  of  plank  and  nailed  to  the  cross 
beam,  the  fox  escaping  into  the  thatch  of  the  inn 


Signs  and  Symbols  169 

with  hound  in  full  cry  and  huntsmen  following. 
Silhouetted  against  the  sky,  it  showed  well  its 
inequality  of  outline.  A  similar  sign  of  a  livery 
stable  in  Baltimore  shows  a  row  of  galloping  horses. 

Sometimes  animals'  heads  or  skins  were  nailed  on 
a  board  and  used  as  a  sign.  Ox  horns  and  deer 
horns  were  set  over  the  door.  The  Buck  Horn 
Tavern  with  its  pair  of  branching  buck  horns  is 
shown  on  the  opposite  page.  This  tavern  stood  on 
Broadway  and  Twenty-second  Street,  New  York. 

The  proverb  "  Good  wine  needs  no  bush  "  refers 
to  the  ancient  sign  for  a  tavern,  a  green  bush  set  on  a 
pole  or  nailed  to  the  tavern  door.  This  was  obsolete, 
even  in  colonial  days  ;  but  in  Western  mining  camps 
and  towns  in  modern  days  this  emblem  has  been 
used  to  point  out  the  barroom  or  grocery  whiskey 
barrel.  The  name  "  Green  Bush "  was  never  a 
favorite  in  America.  There  was  a  Green  Bush 
Tavern  in  Barrington,  Rhode  Island,  with  a  sign 
board  painted  with  a  green  tree. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE    TAVERN     IN    WAR 

THE  tavern  has  ever  played  an  important 
part  in  social,  political,  and  military  life, 
has  helped  to  make  history.  From  the 
earliest  days  when  men  gathered  to  talk  over 
the  terrors  of  Indian  warfare  ;  through  the  renewal 
of  these  fears  in  the  French  and  Indian  War  ;  before 
and  after  the  glories  of  Louisburg ;  and  through  all 
the  anxious  but  steadfast  years  preceding  and  during 
the  Revolution,  these  gatherings  were  held  in  the 
ordinaries  or  taverns.  What  a  scene  took  place  in 
the  Brookfield  tavern,  the  town  being  then  called 
Quawbaug !  The  only  ordinary,  that  of  Goodman 
Ayers,  was  a  garrison  house  as  well  as  tavern,  and 
the  sturdy  landlord  was  commander  of  the  train 
band.  When  the  outbreak  called  King  Philip's 
War  took  place,  things  looked  black  for  Quawbaug. 
Hostile  and  treacherous  Indians  set  upon  the  little 
frontier  settlement,  and  the  frightened  families 
retreated  from  their  scarcely  cleared  farms  to  the 
tavern.  Many  of  the  men  were  killed  and  wounded 
at  the  beginning  of  the  fray,  but  there  were  eighty-two 
persons,  men,  women,  and  children,  shut  up  within 
the  tavern  walls,  and  soon  there  were  four  more, 

170 


The  Tavern  in  War  171 

for  two  women  gave  birth  to  twins.  The  Indians, 
"  like  so  many  wild  bulls,"  says  a  witness,  shot  into 
the  house,  piled  up  hay  and  wood  against  the  walls, 
and  set  it  on  fire.  But  the  men  sallied  out  and 
quenched  the  flames.  The  next  night  the  savages 
renewed  their  attack. 

"  They  used  several  stratagems  to  fire  us,  namely,  by 
wild-fire  on  cotton  and  linen  rags  with  brimstone  in  them, 
which  rags  they  tied  to  the  piles  of  their  arrows  sharp  for 
the  purpose  and  shot  them  to  the  roof  of  our  house  after 
they  had  set  them  on  fire,  which  would  have  much  en 
dangered  in  the  burning  thereof,  had  we  not  used  means 
by  cutting  holes  through  the  roof  and  otherwise  to  beat  the 
said  arrows  down,  and  God  being  pleased  to  prosper  our 
endeavours  therein." 

Again  they  piled  hay  and  flax  against  the  house 
and  fired  it ;  again  the  brave  Englishmen  went  forth 
and  put  out  the  flames.  Then  the  wily  Indians 
loaded  a  cart  with  inflammable  material  and  thrust 
it  down  the  hill  to  the  tavern.  But  the  Lord  sent 
a  rain  for  the  salvation  of  His  people,  and  when  all 
were  exhausted  with  the  smoke,  the  August  heat, 
the  fumes  of  brimstone,  and  the  burning  powder, 
relief  came  in  a  body  of  men  from  Groton  and  one 
brought  by  a  brave  young  man  who  had  made  his 
way  by  stealth  from  the  besieged  tavern  to  Boston. 
Many  of  the  old  garrison  houses  of  New  England 
had,  as  taverns,  a  peaceful  end  of  their  days. 

A  centre  of  events,  a  centre  of  alarms,  the  tavern 
in  many  a  large  city  saw  the  most  thrilling  acts  in 
our  Revolutionary  struggle  which  took  place  off  the 


172  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

battlefields.  The  tavern  was  the  rendezvous  for 
patriotic  bands  who  listened  to  the  stirring  words  of 
American  rebels,  and  mixed  dark  treason  to  King 
George  with  every  bowl  of  punch  they  drank.  The 
story  of  our  War  for  Independence  could  not  be 
dissociated  from  the  old  taverns,  they  are  a  part 
of  our  national  history  ;  and  those  which  still  stand 
are  among  our  most  interesting  Revolutionary 
relics. 

John  Adams  left  us  a  good  contemporaneous 
picture  of  the  first  notes  of  dissatisfaction  such  as 
were  heard  in  every  tavern,  in  every  town,  in  the 
years  which  were  leading  up  to  the  Revolution. 
He  wrote  :  — 

"  Within  the  course  of  the  year,  before  the  meeting  of 
Congress  in  1774,  on  a  journey  to  some  of  our  circuit 
courts  in  Massachusetts,  I  stopped  one  night  at  a  tavern  in 
Shrewsbury  about  forty  miles  from  Boston,  and  as  I  was 
cold  and  wet,  I  sat  down  at  a  good  fire  in  the  bar-room  to 
dry  my  great-coat  and  saddle-bags,  till  a  fire  could  be  made 
in  my  chamber.  There  presently  came  in,  one  after  an 
other,  half  a  dozen,  or  half  a  score  substantial  yeomen  of 
the  neighborhood,  who,  sitting  down  to  the  fire  after  light 
ing  their  pipes,  began  a  lively  conversation  on  politics.  As 
I  believed  I  was  unknown  to  all  of  them,  I  sat  in  total 
silence  to  hear  them.  One  said,  c  The  people  of  Boston 
are  distracted.'  Another  answered,  'No  wonder  the  peo 
ple  of  Boston  are  distracted.  Oppression  will  make  wise 
men  mad.'  A  third  said,  '  What  would  you  say  if  a  fellow 
should  come  to  your  house  and  tell  you  he  was  come  to 
take  a  list  of  your  cattle,  that  Parliament  might  tax  you 
for  them  at  so  much  a  head  ?  And  how  should  you  feel 
if  he  was  to  go  and  break  open  your  barn  or  take  down 


The  Tavern  in   War  173 

your  oxen,  cows,  horses,  and  sheep  ?  '  '  What  should  I 
say  ? '  replied  the  first,  c  I  would  knock  him  in  the  head.' 
c  Well,'  said  a  fourth,  '  if  Parliament  can  take  away  Mr. 
Hancock's  wharf  and  Mr.  Rowe's  wharf,  they  can  take 
away  your  barn  and  my  house.'  After  much  more  reason 
ing  in  this  style,  a  fifth,  who  had  as  yet  been  silent,  broke 
out:  'Well,  it's  high  time  for  us  to  rebel;  we  must  rebel 
some  time  or  other,  and  we  had  better  rebel  now  than  at 
any  time  to  come.  If  we  put  it  off  for  ten  or  twenty  years, 
and  let  them  go  on  as  they  have  begun,  they  will  get  a  strong 
party  among  us,  and  plague  us  a  great  deal  more  than  they 
can  now.'  ' 

These  discussions  soon  brought  decisions,  and  by 
1768  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  organized  and  were 
holding  their  meetings,  explaining  conditions,  and 
advocating  union  and  action.  They  adopted  the 
name  given  by  Colonel  Barre  to  the  enemies  of  pas 
sive  obedience  in  America.  Soon  scores  of.  towns 
in  the  colonies  had  their  liberty  trees  or  liberty 
poles. 

These  patriots  grew  amazingly  bold  in  proclaim 
ing  their  dissatisfaction  with  the  Crown  and  their 
allegiance  to  their  new  nation.  The  landlord  of  the 
tavern  at  York,  Maine,  speedily  set  up  a  sign-board 
bearing  a  portrait  of  Pitt  and  the  words,  "  Enter 
tainment  for  the  Sons  of  Liberty."  Young  women 
formed  into  companies  called  Daughters  of  Liberty, 
pledged  to  wear  homespun  and  drink  no  tea.  I 
have  told  the  story  of  feminine  revolt  at  length  in 
my  book  Colonial  Dames  and  Goodwives.  John 
Adams  glowed  with  enthusiasm  when  he  heard  two 
Worcester  girls  sing  the  "  New  Liberty  Song,"  in  a 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


Worcester  tavern.  In  1768  a  Liberty  Tree  was 
dedicated  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  It  was  a 
vast  elm  which  stood  in  the  dooryard  of  the  Olney 
Tavern  on  Constitution  Hill.  On  a  platform  built 
in  its  branches  about  twenty  feet  from  the  ground, 
stood  the  orator  of  the  day,  and  in  an  eloquent  dis 
course  dedicated  the  tree  to  the  cause  of  Liberty. 


Boston  Liberty  Tree  and  Tavern. 

In  the  trying  years  that  followed,  the  wise  fathers 
and  young  enthusiasts  of  Providence  gathered  under 
its  branches  for  counsel.  The  most  famous  of  these 
trees  of  patriotism  was  the  Liberty  Tree  of  Boston. 
It  stood  near  a  tavern  of  the  same  name  at  the  junc 
tion  of  Essex  and  Washington  streets,  then  known 
as  Hanover  Square.  The  name  was  given  in  1765 
at  a  patriotic  celebration  in  honor  of  the  expected 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  Even  before  that  time 


The  Tavern  in  War  175 

effigies  of  Lord  Oliver  and  a  boot  for  Lord  Bute, 
placards  and  mottoes  had  hung  from  its  branches. 
A  metal  plate  was  soon  attached  to  it,  bearing  this 
legend,  "This  tree  was  planted  in  1646  and  pruned 
by  order  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  February  14,  1766." 
Under  the  tree  and  at  the  tavern  met  all  patriot 
bands,  until  the  tree  was  cut  down  by  the  roistering 
British  soldiers  and  supplied  them  with  fourteen 
cords  of  firewood.  The  tavern  stood  till  1833.  A 
picture  of  the  Boston  Liberty  Tree  and  Tavern  of 
the  same  name  is  shown  on  the  opposite  page.  It 
is  from  an  old  drawing. 

The  fourteenth  of  August,  1769,  was  a  merry 
day  in  Boston  and  vicinity.  The  Sons  of  Liberty, 
after  assembling  at  the  Liberty  Tree  in  Boston,  all 
adjourned  for  dinner  at  the  Liberty  Tree  Tavern, 
or  Robinson's  Tavern  in  Dorchester.  Tables  were 
spread  in  an  adjoining  field  under  a  tent,  and  over 
three  hundred  people  sat  down  to  an  abundant  feast, 
which  included  three  barbecued  pigs.  Speeches  and 
songs  inspired  and  livened  the  diners.  The  last 
toast  given  was,  "  Strong  halters,  firm  blocks,  and 
sharp  axes  to  all  such  as  deserve  them."  At  five 
o'clock  the  Boston  Sons,  headed  by  John  Hancock 
in  his  chariot,  started  for  home.  Although  fourteen 
toasts  were  given  in  Boston  and  forty-five  in  Dor 
chester,  John  Adams  says  in  his  Diary  that  "  to  the 
honor  of  the  Sons  I  did  not  see  one  person  intoxi 
cated  or  near  it." 

The  tavern  in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire, 
known  by  the  sign  of  Earl  of  Halifax,  was  regarded 
by  Portsmouth  patriots  as  a  hotbed  of  Tories,  It 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


had  always  been  the  resort  of  Government  officials  ; 
and  in  1775,  the  meeting  of  these  laced  and  ruffled 
gentlemen  became  most  obnoxious  to  the  Sons  of 
Liberty,  and  soon  a  mob  gathered  in  front  of  the 
tavern,  and  the  irate  landlord  heard  the  blows  of  an 
axe  cutting  down  his  Earl  of  Halifax  sign-post. 
Seizing  an  axe  he  thrust  it  into  the  hands  of  one 

of  his  powerful 
negro  slaves, 
telling  him  to 
go  and  threaten 
the  chopper  of 
the  sign-post. 
Excited  by  the 
riotous  scene, 
the  black  man, 
without  a  word, 
at  once  dealt  a 
powerful  blow 
upon  the  head 
of  a  man  named 
Noble,  whowas 
wieldingtheen- 

staversmn.  croaching    axe. 

Noble    lived 

forty  "years  after  this  blow,  but  never  had  his  reason. 
This  terrible  assault  of  course  enraged  the  mob,  and 
a  general  assault  was  made  on  the  tavern  ;  windows 
and  doors  were  broken  ;  Landlord  Stavers  fled  on 
horseback,  and  the  terrified  black  man  was  found 
in  a  cistern  in  the  tavern  cellar,  up  to  his  chin  in 
water.  When  Stavers  returned,  he  was  seized  by 


The  Tavern  in   War  177 

the  Committee  of  Safety  and  thrust  into  Exeter 
jail.  He  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  returned 
to  his  battered  house.  He  would  not  reglaze  the 
broken  windows,  but  boarded  them  up,  and  it  is 
said  that  many  a  distinguished  group  of  officers 
feasted  in  rooms  without  a  pane  of  glass  in  the 
windows. 

Popular  opinion  was  against  the  Earl  of  Halifax, 
however,  and  when  the  old  sign-board  was  touched 
up,  the  name  of  William  Pitt,  the  friend  of  America, 
appeared  on  the  sign. 

The  portion  of  the  old  Earl  of  Halifax  or  Stavers 
Inn  which  is  still  standing  is  shown  in  its  forlorn  old 
age  on  the  opposite  page. 

Mr.  George  Davenport,  of  Boston,  a  lineal  descend 
ant  of  old  William  Davenport,  owns  one  of  the  most 
interesting  tavern  bills  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is  of 
the  old  Wolfe  Tavern  at  Newburyport.  To  those 
who  ca^n  read  between  the  lines  it  reveals  means 
and  methods  which  were  calculated  to  arouse  en 
thusiasm  and  create  public  sentiment  during  the 
exciting  days  of  the  Stamp  Act.  The  bill  and  its 
items  read  thus  :  — 

u  Dr.  Messrs.  Joseph  Stanwood  &  Others  of  the  Town  of 
Newburyport  for  Sunday  expences  at  My  House  on  Thirs- 
day,  Septr.  26th,  A.D.  1765.  At  the  Grate  Uneasiness  and 
Tumult  on  Occasion  of  the  Stamp  Act. 

To  William  Davenport  Old  Tenor 

To  3  Double  Bowls  punch  by  Capt.  Robud's 

Order £3,      7,   6 

To  7  Double  Bowls  of  punch  .          .      7,      7,  6 


178  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

To  Double  Bowl  of  Egg  Toddy        .          .  14, 

To  Double  Punch  22/6  Single  bowl  11/3     i,    13,  9 
To  Double  Bowl  Punch  22/6  Double  bowl 

toddy  i2/    .  .  .  ;'         .      I,    14,   6 

To  Bowl  Punch  11/3  Bowl  Toddy  6/  i  7,   3 

To  Double  Bowl  Toddy  I2/  bowl  punch 

IJ/3  •  •      I*     3v3 

To  Double  Bowl  punch  22/6  Nip  Toddy 

3/  ...      i,      5,   6 

To  Mug  Flip  5/  To  a  Thrible  Bowl  Punch 

33/9  ;  i,  1 8,  9 

To  Double  Bowl  Punch  22/6  To  a  Thrible 

Bowl  Ditto  33/9  .  .  2,  1 6,  3 

To  Double  Bowl  Punch  22/6  .  i,  2,  6 

To  a  Double  Bowl  Punch  22/6  .  i,  2,  6 

To  Thrible  Bowl  Punch  33/9  Double  Bowl 

Ditto  22/6  .  .  .  .  2,  1 6,  3 

To  Double  Bowl  Punch  22/6  Bowl  Ditto 

JI/3  -      i,    '3>  9 

To  Double  Bowl  Punch  22/6  To  Double 

Ditto  22/6  Bowl  .          .  2,     5 

To  6  Lemons  i$/  To  Bowl  of  Punch 

1 1/3  .          .          .          .      i,     6,  3 

To  2  Double  Bowls  Punch      .          .  2,      5 

To  Double  Bowie  Punch  22/6  bowl  Punch 

IJ/3  •      i,    '3*  9 

To  2  Double  Bowles  punch  1/5  To  bowl 

punch  1 1/3          .          .          .          .     2,   1 6,  3 
To  bowl  Punch  11/3  To  bowl  punch 

u/3  .      i,      2,  6 

To  the  Suppers  which  were  cooked  Hot          2,      5 
To  8  Double  Bowles  Punch  after  Supper        9 
To  Double  Bowl  Toddy  I2/  Bowl  Punch 

n/3  .      i,     2,  6 

To  Bowl  Egg  Toddy  y/  7 


ItKSPECTFrrJ^     JLSFOJiM     TIIK    ITliLIC  , 

That  thty  haw  but  in  /w/^A//1    <<'/iiu'r  that  wcllkncwn 
l\\vi:r.\.   t'l'i !}><)'!}'  k('n  /M  J/'  I>.\\i:xr^itT. 


Stale   Sii-<r*r!  , 


iVolfe  Tavern. 


The  Tavern  in   War 

To  6  pintes  and  1/2  of  Spirits  @  io/ 

per  pint  .  .      3,      5 

To  a  Breakfast  of  Coffee  for  Sd  Company     2,      5 


'79 


59,   17*  3 
Lawful  Money  7,    19,    7* 

Newbury  Port  28  Sept.   1765. 

Errors  excepted      William  Davenport." 

There  was  also  a  credit  account  of  eleven  pounds 
received  in  various  sums  from  Captain  Robud, 
Richard  Farrow,  and  one  Celeby. 

It  is  impossible  to  do  more  than  to  name,  almost 
at  haphazard,  a  few  of  the  taverns  that  had  some 
share  in  scenes  of  Revolutionary  struggle.  Many 
served  as  court-rooms  when  court-martials  were 
held  ;  others  were  seized  for  military  prisons  ;  others 
were  fired  upon  ;  others  served  as  barracks  ;  some 
as  officers'  headquarters  ;  others  held  secret  meetings 
of  patriots;  many  were  used  as  hospitals. 

Many  an  old  tavern  is  still  standing  which  saw 
these  scenes  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  A  splen 
did  group  of  these  hale  and  hearty  old  veterans  is 
found  in  the  rural  towns  near  Boston.  At  the 
Wright  Tavern,  in  Concord  (shown  on  page  417), 
lodged  Major  Pitcairn,  the  British  commander,and  in 
the  parlor  on  the  morning  before  the  battle  of  Con 
cord,  he  stirred  his  glass  of  brandy  with  his  bloody 
finger,  saying  he  would  thus  stir  the  rebel's  blood 
before  night.  The  Monroe  Tavern,  of  Lexington 
(facing  page  406),  was  the  headquarters  of  Lord 
Percy  on  the  famous  I9th  of  April,  1775.  The 
Buckman  Tavern,  of  the  same  town  (page  23),  was 
the  rallying  place  of  the  Minute  Men  on  April  iSth, 


180  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


and  contains  many  a  bullet  hole  made  by  the  shots 
of  British  soldiers.  The  Cooper  Tavern  (page  68) 
and  the  Russel  Tavern  (page  379),  both  of  Arling 
ton,  were  also  scenes  of  activity  and  participation  in 
the  war.  The  Wayside  Inn  of  Sudbury  (page  372) 

and  the  Black 
Horse  Tavern  of 
Winchester  were 


James  Wje  Esq. 
2. 


scenes   ° 
reassembling  of  the 

soldiers  after  the 
battle  of  Lexing 
ton. 

On  the  south 
side  of  Faneuil 
HallSquarein  Bos 
ton,  a  narrow  pas 
sageway  leads  into 
the  gloomy  recesses 
of  a  yard  or  court 
of  irregular  shape  ; 
this  is  Corn  Court, 
and  in  the  middle 
of  this  courtstands, 
overshadowed  by 
tall  modern  neighbors,  the  oldest  inn  in  Boston.  It 
has  been  raised  and  added  to,  and  disfigured  with 
vast  painted  signs,  and  hideous  fire  escapes,  but 
within  still  retains  its  taproom  and  ancient  appear 
ance.  As  early  as  1634,  Samuel  Cole  had  an  ordi 
nary  on  this  spot,  and  in  1636,  Governor  Vane 
entertained  there  Miantonomah  and  his  twenty 


Sign-board  of  Wolfe  Tavern. 


The  Tavern  in   War  1 8 1 

warriors.  This  building,  built  nearly  two  centuries 
ago,  was  given  the  name  of  Hancock  in  1780,  when 
he  became  governor.  In  1794,  Talleyrand  was  a 
guest  at  this  old  hostelry,  and  Louis  Philippe  in 
1797.  Washington,  Franklin,  and  scores  of  other 
patriots  have  tarried  within  its  walls  ;  and  in  its  tap 
room  were  held  meetings  of  the  historic  Boston 
Tea-party. 

The  Green  Dragon  Inn  was  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  historic  taverns.  A  representation  of 
it  from  an  old  print  is  shown  on  page  187.  The 
metal  dragon  which  gave  the  name  projected  from 
the  wall  on  an  iron  rod. 

Warren  was  the  first  Grand  Master  of  the  first 
Grand  Lodge  of  Masons  that  held  its  meetings  at 
this  inn ;  and  other  patriots  came  to  the  inn  to 
confer  with  him  on  the  troublous  times.  The  inn 
was  a  famous  resort  for  the  sturdy  mechanics  of  the 
North  End.  Paul  Revere  wrote  :  - 

"  In  the  fall  of  1774  and  winter  of  1775,  I  was  one  of 
upwards  of  thirty  men,  chiefly  mechanics,  who  formed 
ourselves  with  a  Committee  for  the  purpose  of  watching 
the  movements  of  the  British  soldiers  and  gaining  every 
intelligence  of  the  movements  of  the  Tories.  We  held 
our  meetings  at  the  Green  Dragon  Tavern.  This  com 
mittee  were  astonished  to  find  all  their  secrets  known  to 
General  Gage,  although  every  time  they  met  every  mem 
ber  swore  not  to  reveal  their  transactions  even  to  Han 
cock,  Adams,  Otis,  Warren  or  Church." 

The  latter,  Dr.  Church,  proved  to  be  the  traitor. 
The  mass  meeting  of  these  mechanics  and  their 


1 82  Stage-coach  and  Tavern    Days 


friends  held  in  this  inn  when  the  question  of  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  was  being 
considered  was  deemed  by  Samuel  Adams  one  of 

the  most  important 
factors  of  its  accept 
ance.  Daniel  Web 
ster  styled  the 
Green  Dragon  the 
Headquarters  of 
the  Revolution. 
During  the  war  it 
was  used  as  a  hos 
pital. 

It  is  pleasant  to 
note  how  many  old 
taverns  in  New 
England,  though 
no  longer  public 
hostelries,  still  are 
occupied  by  de 
scendants  of  the 
original  owners. 
Such  is  the  home 
of  Hon.  John 
Winn  in  Burling 
ton,  Massachu 
setts.  It  stands  on 
the  road  to  Lowell  by  way  of  Woburn,  about  eleven 
miles  out  of  Boston.  The  house  was  used  at  the 
time  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  as  a  storage- 
place  for  the  valuables  of  Boston  and  Charlestown 
families.  The  present  home  of  the  Winns  was 


Hancock  Tavern. 


The  Tavern  in  War  183 

built  in  1734  upon  the  exact  site  of  the  house 
built  in  1640  by  the  first  Edward  Winn,  the  emi 
grant.  In  it  the  first  white  child  was  born  in  the 
town  of  Woburn,  December  5,  1641. 

The  tavern  was  kept  in  Revolutionary  days  by 
Lieutenant  Joseph  Winn,  who  marched  off  to  join 
the  Lexington  farmers  on  April  19,  1775,  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  the  alarm  came  "  to 
every  Middlesex  village  and  farm "  to  gather 
against  the  redcoats.  He  came  home  late  that 
night,  and  fought  again  at  Bunker  Hill. 

The  tavern  sign  bore  the  coat  of  arms  of  the 
Winns  ;  it  was  —  not  to  use  strict  heraldic  terms  — 
three  spread  eagles  on  a  shield.  As  it  was  not 
painted  with  any  too  strict  obedience  to  the  rules 
of  heraldry  or  art,  nor  was  it  hung  in  a  community 
that  had  any  very  profound  knowledge  or  reverence 
on  either  subject,  the  three  noble  birds  soon 
received  a  comparatively  degraded  title,  and  the 
sign-board  and  tavern  were  known  as  the  Three 
Broiled  Chickens. 

A  building  in  New  York  which  was  owned  by 
the  De  Lanceys  before  it  became  a  public  house  is 
still  standing  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Broad  and 
Pearl  streets ;  its  name  is  well  known  to-day, 
Fraunces'  Tavern.  This  name  came  from  the 
stewardship  of  Samuel  Fraunces,  "  Black  Sam,"  a 
soldier  of  the  American  Revolution.  The  tavern 
originally  bore  a  sign  with  the  device  of  the  head 
of  Queen  Charlotte,  and  was  known  as  the  Queen's 
Head,  but  in  Revolutionary  times  Black  Sam  was  a 
patriot,  and  in  his  house  were  held  many  patriotic 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


and  public  meetings.  The  most  famous  of  these 
meetings,  one  which  has  given  the  name  of  Wash 
ington's  Headquarters  to  the  tavern,  was  held  in  the 
Long  Room  on  December  4,  1783  :  whereat  Wash 
ington  sadly  bade  farewell  to  his  fellow-officers  who 
had  fought  with  him  in  the  War  for  Independence. 

In  this  room,  ten  days 
previously,  had  been 
celebrated  the  evacua 
tion  of  the  city  of  New 
York  by  the  British, 

|-^  by  a  dinner  given   to 

|j||%  *  General    Washington 

by  Governor  Clinton, 
at  which  the  signifi 
cant  thirteen  toasts 
were  drunk  to  the  new 
nation.  Black  Sam 
was  a  public  benefac 
tor  as  well  as  a  pa 
triot.  He  established 
a  course  of  lectures  on 
natural  philosophy, 
and  opened  an  exhi 
bition  of  wax  figures,  seventy  in  all,  for  the  amuse 
ment  of  New  Yorkers.  His  story,  and  that  of  the 
tavern  bearing  his  name,  have  been  told  at  length 
many  times  in  print. 

Another  interesting  Revolutionary  inn  in  New 
York  was  the  Golden  Hill  Inn.  The  general 
estimate  of  the  date  of  its  building  is  1694;  then 
122  William  Street  was  a  golden  grainfield,  on  one 


Sam  Fraunces. 


The  Tavern  in  War  185 

corner  of  the  Damon  Farm.  After  three-quarters 
of  a  century  of  good  hospitality  it  was  chosen  as 
the  headquarters  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  in  New 
York,  and  within  its  walls  gathered  the  committee 
in  1769,  to  protest  against  Lieutenant-governor 
Colden's  dictum  that  the  colonists  must  pay  for 
supplies  for  the  British  soldiers.  The  result  was  a 
call  for  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  and  the  governor's 
angry  offer  of  a  reward  for  knowledge  of  the  place 
of  meeting.  The  cutting  down  of  the  liberty  pole 
on  the  night  of  January  17,  1770,  and  the  seizure 
of  four  red-coats  by  the  patriots  ended  in  a  fight  in 
the  inn  garden  and  the  death  of  one  patriot.  A 
century  of  stirring  life  followed  until  1896,  when 
the  old  tavern  sadly  closed  its  doors  under  the 
pressure  of  the  Raines  Law. 

The  Keeler  Tavern  was  a  famous  hostelry  for 
travellers  between  New  York  and  Boston.  Its  old 
sign-board  is  shown  on  page  205.  During  the 
Revolution,  landlord  Keeler  was  well  known  to  be 
a  patriot,  and  was  suspected  of  manufacturing  car 
tridges  in  his  tavern.  The  British  poured  a  special 
fire  upon  the  building,  and  one  cannon  ball  lodged 
in  a  timber  on  the  north  side  of  the  house  still 
is  to  be  seen  by  drawing  aside  the  shingle  that 
usually  conceals  it.  A  companion  cannon  ball 
whistled  so  close  to  a  man  who  was  climbing  the 
stairs  of  the  house  that  he  tumbled  down  backward 
screaming,  "I'm  a  dead  man,"  until  his  friends  with 
difficulty  silenced  him,  and  assured  him  he  was 
living.  A  son  of  the  landlord,  Jeremiah  Keeler, 
enlisted  in  the  Continental  army  when  but  seven- 


1 86  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

teen  ;  he  became  a  sergeant,  and  was  the  first  man 
to  scale  the  English  breastworks  at  Yorktown.  He 
was  presented  with  a  sword  by  his  commanding 
officer,  Lafayette,  and  it  is  still  preserved. 

When  Lafayette  made  his  triumphal  progress 
through  the  United  States  in  1824,  he  visited 
Ridgefield  and  the  tavern  to  see  Jeremiah  Keeler, 
and  a  big  ball  was  given  in  the  tavern  in  his  honor. 
Jerome  Bonaparte  and  his  beautiful  Baltimore  bride 
stopped  there  in  i  804.  Oliver  Wolcott  and  Timo 
thy  Pickering  were  other  sojourners  under  its  roof. 
Peter  Parley  gave  to  the  Keeler  Tavern  the  palm 
for  good  cooking. 

The  old  Conkey  Tavern  at  Prescott,  Massachu 
setts,  saw  the  gathering  of  a  very  futile  but  pictu 
resque  windstorm  of  Revolutionary  grievance.  It 
was  built  in  1758  by  William  Conkey,  on  a  lovely 
but  lonely  valley  midway  between  the  east  and  west 
hills  of  Pelham.  The  Swift  River  running  through 
this  valley  was  made  the  boundary  in  the  town  divi 
sion  in  1822,  which  made  eastern  Pelham  into  Pres 
cott.  Captain  Daniel  Shays,  the  leader  of  Shays' 
Rebellion,  lived  half  a  mile  from  the  tavern  on  the 
Centre  Range  Road.  In  the  cheerful  rooms  of  this 
tavern,  Shays,  aided  by  the  well-stocked  tavern-bar, 
incited  the  debt-burdened  farmers  to  rebel  against 
their  state  government.  Here  he  drilled  his  "flood- 
wood,"  and  from  hence  he  led  them  forth  to  Spring 
field,  and  on  January  25,  1787,  was  promptly 
repulsed  by  the  state  militia  under  General  Lincoln. 
Eleven  hundred  men  trooped  back  to  Pelham,  and 
after  four  days  of  what  must  have  proved  scant  and 


The  Tavern  in  War 


187 


Green  Dragon  Tavern. 

cold  fare  in  those  barren  winter  hilltops,  again  sal 
lied  out  to  Petersham.  Here  he  was  again  routed 
by  Lincoln,  who,  with  his  men,  had  marched  thirty 
miles  without  halt,  from  eight  o'clock  at  night  to 
nine  the  following  morning  through  a  blinding, 
northeast  New  England  snowstorm.  A  hundred 
and  fifty  of  Shays'  men  were  captured,  but  their 
valiant  and  wordy  leader  escaped. 

When  the  photograph  (shown  opposite  page  188) 
was  taken,  in  1883,  the  old  timbers  within  the  house 
were  sound  and  firm,  and  the  beams  overhead  still 
bore  the  marks  of  the  muskets  of  Shays'  impatient 
men.  It  was  a  characteristic  "deserted  home"  of 
New  England. 

Nothing  could  more  fully  picture  Whittier's 
lines  :  — 


1 88  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

"  Against  the  wooded  hills  it  stands, 

Ghost  of  a  dead  house  ;   staring  through 
Its  broken  lights  on  wasted  lands 
Where  old-time  harvests  grew. 

"  Unploughed,  unsown,  by  scythe  unshorn, 

The  poor  forsaken  farm-fields  lie, 
Once  rich  and  rife  with  golden  corn 
And  pale-green  breadths  of  rye. 

"  So  sad,  so  drear  ;   it  seems  almost 

Some  haunting  Presence  makes  its  sign, 
That  down  some  shadowy  lane  some  ghost 
Might  drive  his  spectral  kine." 

Since  then  the  old  tavern  has  fallen  down,  a  sad 
ruin,  like  many  another  on  New  England  hills,  in  a 
country  as  wild  and  lonely,  probably  far  lonelier, 
than  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution  and  Shays' 
Rebellion.  The  sign-board  (page  190)  is  still  pre 
served. 

Eighteenth-century  taverns  had  a  special  function 
which  had  a  bearing  on  their  war  relations ;  they 
were  "  improved  "  as  recruiting  offices.  During  the 
years  1742  to  1748,  and  from  1756  to  1763,  while 
England  was  at  war  with  France,  the  "listing" 
was  brisk.  Here  is  a  typical  advertisement  dated 
1759:  — 

"  All  able-bodied  fit  Men  that  have  an  Inclination  to 
serve  his  Majesty  King  George  the  Second,  in  the  First 
Independent  Company  of  Rangers,  now  in  the  Province  of 
Nova  Scotia  commanded  by  'Joseph  Gorham,  Esq. ;  shall,  on 
enlisting,  receive  good  Pay  and  Cloathing,  a  large  Bounty, 
with  a  Crown  to  drink  the  King's  Health.  And  by  repair 
ing  to  the  Sign  of  the  Bear  in  King-Street,  Boston,  and  to 


The  Tavern  in  War  189 

Mr.  Cornelius  Crocker,  Innholder  in  Barnstable,  may  hear 
the  particular  Encouragement,  and  many  Advantages  accru 
ing  to  a  Soldier,  in  the  Course  of  the  Duty  of  that  Com 
pany,  too  long  to  insert  here;  and  further  may  depend  on 
being  discharged  at  the  expiration  of  the  Time  entertain'd 
for,  and  to  have  every  other  Encouragement  punctually 
compli'd  with." 

In  the  "  French  War  of  1744,"  the  Governor  of 
Jamaica  sent  his  "leftenants"  to  Philadelphia  to  fill  up 
his  regiments.  It  was  worth  "  listing  "  at  the  Widow 
Roberts'  Coffee-house  in  those  days,  when  every 
"  sojer  "  got  six  shillings  a  week  extra,  and  his  family 
carried  free  to  Antigua  if  he  wished  it,  and  land  to 
settle  on  in  that  glorious  country  when  war  was  over. 
Brisk  and  cheerful  was  the  enrolment,  and  I  trust 
all  lived  happy  ever  after  in  the  tropic  land,  so  far 
away  in  miles  and  environment  from  the  Quaker 
town  of  their  youth. 

It  was  pleasant  work,  also,  for  "gentlemen  sailors  " 
in  1744.  The  colonies  whisked  out  on  the  high 
seas  that  year  a  hundred  and  thirteen  full-manned 
privateers.  Wealthy  merchants  gathered  around 
the  inn  tables  to  join  fortunes  in  these  ventures  ; 
plans  were  quickly  matured ;  and  the  articles  of 
agreement  signed  by  these  rich  ship-owners  were 
quickly  followed  by  articles  of  agreement  to  be 
signed  by  the  seamen.  Oh,  what  prizes  these 
cruisers  brought  into  port !  There  are  no  items  in 
the  newspapers  of  that  day  under  the  head  of  Phila 
delphia  and  New  York  news  save  lists  of  prizes. 
When  these  half-pirates  came  in,  cannon  were  fired, 
the  whole  town  turned  out,  and  the  taverns  were 


190  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

filled  with  rejoicings.  The  names  of  the  ships  and 
their  captains  were  household  words.  The  cap 
tured  cargoes  were  carried  ashore ;  inventories  were 
posted  in  the  taprooms,  and  often  the  goods  were 
sold  within  the  welcoming  tavern  doors. 


Sign-board  of  Conkey  Tavern. 

It  has  been  said  that  taverns  bearing  names  of 
ships,  maritime  phrases,  and  seafaring  titles  were 
usually  chosen  as  shipping  offices  for  the  enlistment 
of  privateersmen  and  marines  on  men-of-war.  It  is 
more  probable  that  the  most  popular  tavern  in  any 
locality  frequented  by  sailors  and  seamen  was  the 
one  chosen,  whatever  its  name.  In  the  Boston  Post 
Boy  of  June,  1762,  is  the  following  notice:  — 

"NOW    BOUND    ON    A    CRUIZE    OF    SIX    MONTHS 

Against  His  Majesties  enemies,  The  Brigantine  Tartar, 
a  Prime  Sailor  mounting  Fourteen  Six  Pounders,  Twenty 


The  Tavern   in   War  191 

Culverines,  and  will  carry  One  Hundred  and  Twenty  Men. 
Commanded  by  William  Augustus  Peck.  All 

GENTLEMEN  SEAMEN 

and  able  bodied  Landsmen  who  have  a  mind  to  make  their 
Fortunes,  and  are  inclined  to  take  a  Cruize  in  this  said 
Vessel,  by  applying  at  this  King's  Head  Tavern  at  the 
North  End,  may  view  the  Articles  which  are  more  advan 
tageous  to  the  Ship's  Company  than  were  ever  before 
offered  in  this  Place." 

To  those  who  know  the  condition  of  Jack  Tar 
aboard  ship  a  century  ago,  and  the  attitude  which 
Captain  Peck  doubtless  assumed  to  his  seamen  the 
moment  the  Tartar  was  started  on  this  "  Cruize," 
there  is  a  sarcastic  pleasantry  in  the  term  Gentlemen 
Seamen  used  by  him  in  common  with  other  captains 
ashore,  that  might  be  swallowed  in  a  taproom  with 
bowls  of  grog  and  flip,  but  would  never  go  down 
smoothly  on  shipboard. 

Gentlemen  sailors  were  frequently  impressed  in  a 
very  different  manner.  The  press-gang  was  one  of 
the  peculiar  institutions  of  Great  Britain,  and  its 
aggressive  outrages  formed  one  of  the  causes  of 
"  Madison's  War,"  as  old  people  liked  to  term  the 
War  of  1812.  The  Virginia  Gazette  of  the  first  of 
October,  1767,  tells  of  a  far  different  scene  from 
that  indicated  by  the  plausible  words  of  Captain 
Peck ;  one  in  which  a  Norfolk  tavern  took  a 
part :  — 

"  It  appears  that  Captain  Morgan  of  the  Hornet,  Sloop 
of  War,  concerted  a  bloody  riotous  Plan,  to  impress  Sea 
men,  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  for  which  Purpose  his  Tender 


192 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


was  equipped  with  Guns  and  Men,  and  under  cover  of  the 
Night,  said  Morgan  landed  at  a  public  wharff,  having  first 
made  proper  Dispositions  either  for  an  Attack  or  Retreat ; 
then  went  to  a  Tavern,  and  took  a  chearful  Glass,  after 
which  they  went  to  work  and  took  every  Person  they  met 
with  and  knock'd  all  down  that  resisted  ;  and  dragg'd  them 


Naval  Pitcher. 


on  board  the  Tender  but  the  Town  soon  took  the  Alarm, 
and  being  headed  by  Paul  Loyal,  Esq.,  a  Magistrate,  they 
endeavor'd  to  convince  Captain  Morgan  of  his  Error;  but 
being  deaf  to  all  they  said  he  ordered  the  People  in  the 
Tender  to  fire  on  the  Inhabitants,  but  they  refused  to  obey 
their  Commander's  orders  and  he  was  soon  oblig'd  to  fly,  leav 
ing  some  of  his  Hornets  behind,  who  were  sent  to  Gaol." 


The  Tavern   in   War  193 

It  is  astonishing  to  read  of  such  ruffianly  kid 
nappings  under  the  protection  of  the  British  Gov 
ernment,  and  to  know  that  seamen  and  sailors  who 
had  been  so  treated  would  assist  in  such  outrages  on 
others.  It  is  only  one  of  the  many  proofs  that  we 
meet  everywhere  in  history  of  the  thick-skinned 
indifference  and  cruelty  of  nearly  all  of  the  human 
race  a  century  ago. 

It  was  far  worse  in  these  matters  in  England  than 
in  the  colonies.  Mr.  Ashton  tells  us  that  in  one 
night  over  two  thousand  one  hundred  men  were 
pressed  in  London  alone.  Riot  and  bloodshed 
accompanied  those  infamous  raids ;  sometimes  a 
whole  town  turned  out  to  resist  the  officers  and 
ship's  men. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    TAVERN     PANORAMA 

WE  have  to-day  scores  of  places  of  amuse 
ment,  and  means  of  amusement,  wherein 
earlier  days  all  diversions  centred  at  the 
tavern.    The  furnishing  of  food  and  shelter  to  trav 
ellers  and  to  horses,  and  of  liquid  comfort  to  neigh 
bors,  was  not  the  only  function  of  the  tavern,  nor  the 
meeting  for  cheerful  interchange  of  news  and  senti- 

o  o 

ment.  Whatever  there  was  of  novelty  in  entertain 
ment  or  instruction,  was  delivered  at  the  tavern, 
and  it  served  as  the  gathering  place  for  folk  on 
scores  of  duties  or  pleasures  bent.  There  was  in 
fact  a  constant  panorama  passing  within  the  walls 
and  before  the  doors  of  an  old  tavern,  not  only  in 
the  shape  of  distinguished,  picturesque,  a.nd  un 
wonted  guests,  but  through  the  variety  of  uses  to 
which  the  tavern  was  put.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  enumerate  them  all.  Many  of  the  chapters  of 
this  book  indicate  some  of  them.  We  can  simply 
glance  at  a  few  more  of  the  most  common  and  of 
the  most  interesting  ones. 

Though  guests  of  colonial  days  are  often  named 
as  having  visited  the  old  taverns  which  still  linger 
intact,  the  names  of  importance  which  are  most 

194 


The   Tavern   Panorama  195 

frequently  heard  are  those  of  Revolutionary  heroes 
and  visitors,  those  of  Franklin,  Washington,  and 
Lafayette  being  most  proudly  enumerated.  Frank 
lin  was  a  great  local  traveller.  His  post-office  affairs 
took  him  frequently  along  the  road.  He  was  fond 
of  visiting,  and  people  were  naturally  fond  of  having 
him  visit  them.  He  was  such  a  welcome  guest  that 
he  need  not  have  entered  a  tavern  from  Maine  to 
Georgia.  Washington  made  several  trips  through 
the  states,  one  of  much  ceremony.  He  gives  the 
names  of  the  taverns  at  which  he  stopped. 

I  have  been  in  tavern-rooms  honored  a  century 
ago  by  the  sleeping  presence  of  Washington,  but 
I  have  never  slept  in  them.  I  would  rather  look  at 
them  than  sleep  in  them;  and  I  have  moralized  over 
the  simplicity  and  lack  of  luxury  which  was  the  best 
that  the  tavern  could  offer,  even  to  that  great  man. 

Lafayette  was  made  welcome  in  many  private 
houses  in  his  tour  in  1824,  but  he  also  was  a 
tavern  guest.  His  journal  is  preserved  in  Paris, 
untranslated.  In  it  he  tells  of  seeing  the  well-known 
Landing  of  Lafayette  plates  and  dishes  for  the  first 
time  at  a  tavern  in  a  small  town  in  western  New 
York. 

All  the  statesmen  of  the  South  stopped  at  tav 
erns  on  the  old  National  road:  Harrison,  Hous 
ton,  Taylor,  Polk,  and  Allen.  Homespun  Davy 
Crockett,  popular  General  Jackson,  stately  Henry 
Clay,  furnished  a  show  for  the  country  by-standers 
to  gape  at.  In  the  Northern  states  Daniel  Webster 
was  the  god  whose  coming  was  adored.  A  halo  of 
glory  shed  by  his  presence  still  hangs  round  many 


196 


Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 


Washington  Tavern,  North  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts. 

a  tavern  room,  and  well  it  may,  for  he  was  a  giant 
among  men. 

To  show  the  variety  of  the  tavern  panorama  let 
me  quote  what  Edwin  Lasseter  Bynner  wrote  of  the 
inns  of  Boston  :  — 

"  They  were  the  centres  of  so  much  of  its  life  and 
affairs,  the  resort  at  once  of  judge  and  jury,  of  the  clergy 
and  the  laity,  of  the  politician  and  the  merchant ;  where 
the  selectmen  came  to  talk  over  the  affairs  of  the  town,  V 
and  higher  officials  to  discuss  the  higher  interests  of  the 
province  ;  where  royal  governors  and  distinguished  strangers 
were  entertained  alike  with  the  humblest  wayfarer  and  the 
meanest  citizen  ;  where  were  held  the  carousals  of  roister 
ing  red-coat  officers,  and  the  midnight  plottings  of  mutter 
ing  stern-lipped  patriots ;  where,  in  fine,  the  swaggering 


The  Tavern   Panorama  197 

ensign  of  the  royal  army,  the  frowning  Puritan,  the  obnox 
ious  Quaker,  the  Huguenot  refugee,  and  the  savage  Indian 
chief  from  the  neighboring  forest  might  perchance  jostle 
each  other  in  the  common  taproom." 

Naturally  the  tavern  proved  the  exhibition  place 
and  temporary  lodging-place  of  all  secular  shows 
which  could  not  be  housed  in  the  meeting-house. 
It  contained  the  second  assembly  room  in  size,  and 
often  the  only  other  large  room  in  town  save  that 
devoted  to  religious  gatherings.  Hence,  when  in 
Salem  in  1781  "the  Sentimentalists  and  all  Volon- 
tiers  who  are  pleased  to  encourage  the  extensive 
Propogation  of  Polite  Literature  "  were  invited  to 
attend  a  book  auction  by  a  "  Provedore  and  Pro 
fessor  of  Auctioneering,"  this  sale  of  books  was  held 
at  Mr.  Goodhue's  tavern.  At  the  American  Coffee 
house  in  Boston  the  firm  that  vendued  books  within 
doors  also  sold  jackasses  on  the  street. 

"  Monstrous  Sights  "  found  at  the  tavern  a  con 
genial  temporary  home,  where  discussion  of  their 
appearance  was  held  before  the  tavern  bar,  while  the 
tavern  barn  restrained  and  confined  the  monster  if 
he  chanced  to  be  a  wild  beast.  A  moose,  a  walrus, 
a  camel,  a  lion,  a  leopard,  appeared  in  succession  in 
Salem  taverns,  chiefly  at  the  Black  Horse.  Then 
came 'a  wonder  of  natural  history,  a  Pygarg,  said 
to  be  from  Russia.  We  have  a  description  of  it : 
it  had  "  the  likeness  of  a  camel,  bear,  mule,  goat, 
and  common  bullock"  ;  it  is  spoken  of  in  the  book 
of  Deuteronomy,  Chapter  XIV.  I  am  not  sure 
that  we  would  recognize  our  native  American  moose 
if  he  were  not  called  by  name,  in  the  creature  adver- 


198  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

tised  as  having  "  a  face  like  a  mouse,  ears  like  an 
ass,  neck  and  back  like  a  camel,  hind-parts  like  a 
horse,  tail  like  a  rabbit,  and  feet  like  a  heifer." 
Cassowaries,  learned  pigs,  learned  horses,  and  rab 
bits  were  shown  for  petty  sums.  Deformed  beasts 
and  persons  were  exhibited.  Pictures,  "  prospects," 
statues,  elaborate  clocks,  moving  puppets,  and 
many  mechanical  contrivances  could  be  viewed  in 
the  tavern  parlor. 

"  Electrical  machines  "  were  the  wonder  of  their 
day.  Solemn  professors  and  gay  "  fakirs  "  exhibited 
them  from  tavern  to  tavern.  The  first  lightning- 
rods  also  made  a  great  show.  Shortly  after  the  in 
vention  of  balloons,  came  their  advent  as  popular 
shows  in  many  towns.  They  often  ascended  from 
the  green  in  front  of  the  tavern.  They  bore  many 
pompous  names, — "Archimedial  Phaetons,"  "Verti 
cal  Aerial  Coaches,"  "  Patent  Foederal  Balloons." 
The  public  was  assured  that  "  persons  of  timid 
nature  "  would  find  nothing  to  terrify  them  in  the 
ascent.  They  were  not  only  recommended  as 
engines  of  amusement  and  wonder,  but  were  urged 
upon  "  Invaletudinarians "  as  hygienic  factors,  in 
that  they  caused  in  the  ascent  the  "  sudden  revul 
sion  of  the  blood  and  humours "  of  aeronautic 
travellers. 

The  Bunch  of  Grapes  housed  Mr.  Douglas 
when  he  delivered  his  famous  lecture  on  "  Heads, 
Coats  of  Arms,  Wigs,  Ladies'  Head  Dresses,"  etc.; 
it  was  an  office  for  John  Hurd,  an  early  insurance 
broker,  chiefly  for  marine  risks.  Nearly  all  the 
first  insurance  offices  were  in  taverns. 


The  Tavern   Panorama 


99 


Black  Horse  Tavern,  Salem,  Massachusetts. 

One  intelligent  chronicler  relates  :  - 

"  The  taverns  of  Boston  were  the  original  business 
Exchanges ;  they  combined  the  Counting  House,  the 
Exchange-office,  the  Reading-room,  and  the  Bank  :  each 
represented  a  locality.  To  the  Lamb  Tavern,  called  by 
the  sailors  'sheep's  baby,'  people  went  'to  see  a  man 
from  Dedham  '  -  —  it  was  the  resort  of  all  from  Norfolk 
County.  The  old  Eastern  Stage  House  in  Ann  Street 
was  frequented  by  c  down  Easters,'  captains  of  vessels, 
formerly  from  the  Penobscot  and  Kennebec ;  there  were 
to  be  seen  groups  of  sturdy  men  seated  round  an  enor 
mous  fire-place,  chalking  down  the  price  of  bark  and 
lumber,  and  shippers  bringing  in  a  vagrant  tarpaulin  to 
c  sign  the  articles.'  To  the  Exchange  Coffee-House 
resorted  the  nabobs  of  Essex  Countv;  here  those  aristo- 


2OO  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

cratic  eastern  towns,  Newburyport  and  Portsmouth,  were 
represented  by  ship  owners  and  ship  builders,  merchants 
of  the  first  class."' 

The  first  attempt  at  the  production  of  plays  in 
New  England  was  a  signal  for  prompt  and  vital 
opposition.  Little  plays  called  drolls  were  ex 
hibited  in  the  taverns  and  coffee-houses ;  such 
plays  as  Pickle  Herring,  Taylor  riding  to  Brentford, 
Harlequin  and  Scaramouch.  About  1750  two  young 
English  strollers  produced  what  must  have  been  a 
mightily  bald  rendering  of  Otway's  Orphans  in  a 
Boston  coffee-house ;  this  was  a  step  too  far  in 
frivolity,  and  stern  Boston  magistrates  took  rigid 
care  there  were  no  more  similar  offences.  Many 
ingenious  ruses  were  invented  and  presented  to  the 
public  to  avoid  the  hated  term  and  conceal  the  hated 
fact  of  play  acting.  "Histrionic  academies  "  were  a 
sneaking  introduction  of  plays.  In  1762  a  clever 
but  sanctimonious  manager  succeeded  in  crowding 
his  company  and  his  play  into  a  Newport  tavern. 
Here  is  his  truckling  play-bill :  — 

-KINGS  ARMS  TAVERN  NEWPORT  RHODE  ISLAND 

On  Monday,  June  loth,  at  the  Public  Room  of  the  Above 
Inn  will  be  delivered  a  series  of 

Moral  Dialogues 
In  Five  Parts 

Depicting  the  evil  effects  of  jealousy  and  other  bad  pas 
sions  and  Proving  that  happiness  can  only  spring  from  the 
pursuit  of  Virtue, 


The  Tavern   Panorama  201 

MR.  DOUGLASS — Will  represent  a  noble  magnanimous 
Moor  called  Othello,  who  loves  a  young  lady  named  Des- 
demona,  and,  after  he  marries  her,  harbours  (as  in  too 
many  cases)  the  dreadful  passion  of  jealousy. 

Of  jealousy,  our  being* 's  bane 

Mark  the  small  cause  and  the  most  dreadful  pain. 

MR.  ALLYN  —  Will  depict  the  character  of  a  specious 
villain,  in  the  regiment  of  Othello,  who  is  so  base  as  to 
hate  his  commander  on  mere  suspicion  and  to  impose  on 
his  best  friend.  Of  such  characters,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
there  are  thousands  in  the  world,  and  the  one  in  question 
may  present  to  us  a  salutary  warning. 

The  man  that  wrongs  his  master  and  his  friend 
What  can  he  come  to  but  a  shameful  end? 

MR.  HALLAM  —  Will  delineate  a  young  and  thoughtless 
officer  who  is  traduced  by  Mr.  Allyn  and,  getting  drunk, 
loses  his  situation  and  his  general's  esteem.  All  young 
men  whatsoever  take  example  from  Cassio. 

The  ill  effects  of  drinking  would  you  see? 
Be  warned  and  fly  from  evil  company. 

MR.  MORRIS  —  Will  represent  an  old  gentleman,  the 
father  of  Desdemona,  who  is  not  cruel  or  covetous,  but 
is  foolish  enough  to  dislike  the  noble  Moor,  his  son-in- 
law,  because  his  face  is  not  white,  forgetting  that  we 
all  spring  from  one  root.  Such  prejudices  are  very 
numerous  and  very  wrong. 

Fathers  beware  what  sense  and  love  ye  lack  ! 
'  Tis  crime,  not  colour,  that  makes  the  being 


2O2  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

MR.  QUELCH  —  Will  depict  a  fool  who  wishes  to  become 
a  knave,  and,  trusting  to  one,  gets  killed  by  one.  Such 
is  the  friendship  of  rogues  !  Take  heed  ! 

Where  fools  would  become,  how  often  you1  II 
Perceive  the  knave  not  wiser  than  the  fool. 

MRS.  MORRIS  —  Will  represent  a  young  and  virtuous 
wife,  who  being  wrongfully  suspected,  gets  smothered  (in 
an  adjoining  room)  by  her  husband. 

Reader,  attend,  and  ere  thou  goest  hence 
Let  fall  a  tear  to  helpless  innocence. 

MRS.  DOUGLASS  —  Will  be  her  faithful  attendant  who  will 
hold  out  a  good  example  to  all  servants  male  and  female, 
and  to  all  people  in  subjection. 

Obedience  and  gratitude 

Are  things  as  rare  as  they  are  good. 

Various  other  Dialogues,  too  numerous  to  mention  here, 
will  be  delivered  at  night,  all  adapted  to  the  mind  and 
manners.  The  whole  will  be  repeated  on  Wednesday 
and  on  Saturday.  Tickets,  six  shillings  each,  to  be  had 
within.  Commencement  at  7.  Conclusion  at  half-past 
ten :  in  order  that  every  Spectator  may  go  home  at  a 
sober  hour  and  reflect  upon  what  he  has  seen,  before  he 
retired  to  rest. 

God  save  the  King 

Long  may  he  sway. 

East,  north,  and  south 

And  fair  America." 

We  can  see  the  little  public  room  of  the  tavern 
with  its  rows  of  chairs  and  benches  at  one  end  and 
the  group  of  starveling  actors  at  the  other,  who 


The  Tavern   Panorama 


203 


never  played  a  greater  farce  than  when  they  set  up 
as  being  solely  ministers  of  piety  and  virtue. 

"  Consorts  "  of  music  were  given  in  the  taverns, 
and,  most  exciting  of  all,  lotteries  were  drawn  there. 
This  licensed  and  highly  approved  form  of  gam 
bling  had  the  sanction  of 
the  law  and  the  participa 
tion  of  every  community. 
Churches  had  lotteries  "for 
promoting  public  worship 
and  the  advancement  of 
religion."  Colleges  and 
schools  thus  increased  their 
endowments.  Towns  and 
states  raised  money  to  pay 
the  public  debt  by  means 
of  lotteries. 

It  was  asserted  that 
"the  interests  of  litera 
ture  and  learning  were 
supported,  the  arts  and 
sciences  were  encouraged, 
religion  was  extended,  the 
wastes  of  war  were  repaired, 
inundation  prevented, 
travel  increased,  and  the  burthen  of  taxes  lessened 
by  lotteries."  Many  private  lotteries  were  drawn 
at  the  taverns,  which  were  thronged  at  that  time 
with  excited  ticket-owners. 

Lodges  of  Freemasons  in  America,  following  the 
custom  which  prevailed  in  England,  met  at  the 
taverns.  In  Philadelphia  they  met  at  Peg  Mullen's 


Stickney  Tavern. 


204  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

Beefsteak  House.  The  lodges  were  often  known 
by  the  names  of  the  taverns  at  which  the  meetings 
were  held.  One  Boston  lodge  met  at  the  Royal 
Exchange  Tavern,  and  hence  was  known  by  its 
name.  That  hostelry  was,  however,  so  popular 
with  the  visiting  public  that  sometimes  the  brethren 
had  to  suspend  their  meetings  for  want  of  room. 
In  December,  1749,  the  Masons  of  Boston  cele 
brated  the  feast  of  St.  John,  and  appeared  in  proces 
sion  on  the  streets.  This  excited  the  greatest 
curiosity  and  ridicule.  Joseph  Green  wrote  a  poem 
in  which  the  chief  object  of  his  wit  was  Luke 
Vardy,  the  keeper  of  the  Royal  Exchange  :  — 

"  Where's  honest  Luke,  that  cook  from  London  ? 
For  without  Luke  the  Lodge  is  undone. 
'Twas  he  who  oft  dispell'd  their  sadness, 
And  filled  the  Brethren" 's  hearts  with  gladness. 
Luke  in  return  is  made  a  brother 
As  good  and  true  as  any  other. 
And  still,  though  broke  writh  age  and  wine, 
Preserves  the  token  and  the  sign." 

Massachusetts  Grand  Lodge  organized  at  Green 
Dragon,  and  the  first  lodge  of  all,  St.  John's  Lodge, 
met  in  1733  at  the  Bunch  of  Grapes  in  King 
(now  State)  Street.  One  of  the  three  bunches  of 
grapes  that  formed  the  original  tavern  sign  still 
hangs  in  front  of  the  lodge  room  of  St.  John's 
Lodge  in  Masonic  Temple,  Boston.  This  tavern 
had  an  early  and  lasting  reputation  as  "  the  best 
punch-house  in  Boston."  In  Revolutionary  days  it 
became  the  headquarters  of  High  Whigs,  and  a 
§carlet  coat  was  an  inflammatory  signal  in  that  tap- 


The  Tavern   Panorama 


205 


room.  The  "  Whig  Tavern  "  was  a  proper  centre 
for  popular  gatherings  after  the  evacuation  of 
Boston  ;  General  Stark's  victory  at  Bennington  was 
celebrated  there  "  to  high  taste,"  says  a  participant. 
The  firing  of  cannon,  discharge  of  rockets,  playing 
of  fifes  and  drums,  made  satisfactory  noise.  "  The 
gentlemen  had  ample  liquor  within 
doors,  and  two  barrels  of  grog 
were  distributed  to  outsiders  on 
the  streets — all  "with  the  greatest 
propriety."  When  General  Stark 
arrived,  a  few  weeks  later,  there 
was  equal  rejoicing.  The  glories 
of  the  entertainment  of  Washing 
ton  and  a  series  of  gallant  sol 
diers  and  distinguished  travellers 
do  not,  perhaps,  reflect  the  honor 
upon  the  old  tavern  that  comes  s^n-boaTradv°efrnKe< 
from  its  having  been  the  scene  of 
a  most  significant  fact  in  our  history.  It  was  the 
gathering  place  and  place  of  organization  of  the 
Ohio  Company  —  the  first  concerted  movement  of 
New  England  toward  the  Great  West. 

The  famous  Craft's  Tavern  in  the  little  town  of 
Walpole,  New  Hampshire,  kept  by  Major  Asa  Bui- 
lard,  was  the  gathering  place  in  1796  of  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  groups  of  writers  ever  engaged  in 
a  literary  undertaking  in  this  country.  It  was 
called  the  Literary  Club  of  Walpole,  and  is  a 
landmark  in  the  literary  life  of  New  England.  In 
this  rustic  New  Hampshire  tavern  this  Club  might 
repeat  Beaumont's  lines  to  Jonson  beginning:- 


206  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

"  What  things  have  we  seen 

Done  at  the  Mermaid,  heard  words  that  have  been 
So  nimble,  and  so  full  of  subtle  flame. ' ' 

The  head  of  this  Yankee  collection  of  wits  was 
the  Lay  Preacher,  Joseph  Dennie,  who,  at  the  death 


Plate,  Nahant  Hotel. 


of  the  novelist,  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  was 
the  only  man  in  the  United  States  who  made  a 
profession  of  literature.  He  was  born  in  Boston, 
studied  law  in  Charlestown,  New  Hampshire,  then 
an  important  and  bustling  town,  went  to  Walpole, 


The  Tavern   Panorama  207 

and  became  conductor  of  the  New  Hampshire  Jour 
nal  and  Farmer  s  Museum.  For  this  newspaper  and 
in  this  Craft's  Tavern  he  wrote  his  famous  Lay 
Sermons  which  were  read  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 
In  the  talented  tavern  circle  was  Royall  Tyler, 
author  of  the  play  The  Contrast  and  the  novel  The 
Algerine  Captive.  He  became  Chief  Justice  of  Ver 
mont.  Another  contributor  was  David  Everett, 
author  of  the  well-known  juvenile  spouting-piece, 
beginning:  — 

"  You'd  scarce  expect  one  of  my  age 
To  speak  in  public  on  the  stage." 

Still  another,  Thomas  G.  Fessenden,  wrote  Ter 
rible  Tractoration.  It  was  a  day  of  pseudonyms; 
Fessenden  wrote  as  Simon  Spunky  and  Christopher 
Caustic;  Everett  called  himself  Peter  Peveril ;  Isaac 
Story  was  Peter  Quinn  ;  Dennie  was  Oliver  Old- 
school  ;  Tyler  was  Colon  and  Spondee. 

A  day  of  great  sport  at  the  tavern  was  when  there 
was  a  turkey-shoot ;  these  often  took  place  on 
Thanksgiving  Day.  Notices  such  as  this  were  fre 
quently  found  in  the  autumnal  newspapers  :  - 

«  SHARP-SHOOTING. 

"Thos.  D.  Ponsland  informs  his  Friends  and  the  Friends 
of  Sport  that  he  will  on  Friday,  yth  day  of  December  next, 
set  up  for  SHOOTING  a  number  of 

FINE  FAT  TURKEYS 

and    invites    all    Gunners  and    others    who    would   wish   to 
recreate  themselves  to  call  on  the   day  after  Thanksgiving 


208  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

at  the   Old   Bakers'   Tavern,  Upp.   Parish  Beverly,   where 
every  accommodation  would  be  afforded." 

In  the  Boston  Evening  Post  of  January  n,  1773, 
notice  was  given  that  "  a  Bear  and  Number  of  Tur 
keys  "  would  be  set  up  as  a  mark  at  the  Punch 
Bowl  Tavern  in  Brookline. 

Captain  Basil  Hall,  travelling  in  America  in  1827, 
was  much  surprised  at  the  account  of  one  of  these 
turkey-shoots,  which  he  thus  fully  describes  :  — 

"  At  a  country  inn  bearing  the  English  name  of  An- 
dover,  close  to  the  Indian  river  Shawsheen,  I  observed  the 
following  printed  bill  stuck  up  in  the  bar. 

SPORTSMEN    ATTEND 
300  FOWLS 

will  be  set  up  for  the  sportsmen  at  the  Subscriber's   Hotel 
in  Tewksbury,  on  Friday  the  12  October,  inst.  at   8  A.M. 

Gentlemen  of  Tewksbury, 
Lowell  and  vicinity  are  invited  to  attend. 

WILLIAM   HARDY. 

"  This  placard  was  utterly  unintelligible  to  me ;  and  the 
Landlord  laughed  at  my  curiosity  but  good  humouredly 
enlightened  my  ignorance  by  explaining  that  these  shoot 
ing  matches  were  so  common  in  America,  that  he  had  no 
doubt  I  would  fall  in  with  them  often.  I  regretted  very 
much  having  passed  one  day  too  late  for  this  transatlantic 
battle.  It  appears  that  these  birds  were  literally  barn  door 
fowls,  placed  at  certain  distances,  and  fired  at  by  any  one 
who  chooses  to  pay  the  allotted  sum  for  a  shot.  If  he 
kills  the  bird,  he  is  allowed  to  carry  it  off;  otherwise,  like 


The  Tavern   Panorama  209 

a  true  sportsman,  he  has  the  amusement  for  his  money. 
Cocks  and  hens  being  small  birds,  are  placed  at  the  dis 
tance  of  165  feet;  and  for  every  shot  with  ball  the 
sportsman  has  to  pay  four  cents.  Turkeys  are  placed 
at  twice  the  distance,  or  110  yards,  if  a  common  musket 
be  used;  but  at  165  yards  if  the  weapon  be  a  rifle.  In 
both  those  cases  the  price  per  shot  is  from  six  to  ten 
cents." 

There  were  other  sports  offered  at  the  taverns,  as 
shown  by  an  advertisement  in  the  Essex  Register 
of  June,  1806  :  - 

"SPORTSMEN   ATTEND. 

The  Gentlemen  Sportsmen  of  this  town  and.  Vicinity  are 
informed  that  a  Grand  Combat  will  take  place  between  the 
URUS  ZEBU  and  Spanish  BULL  on  4th  of  July  if  fair  weather. 
If  not  the  next  fair  day  at  the  HALF  WAY  HOUSE  on  the  Salem 
Turnpike.  No  danger  need  be  apprehended  during  the  per 
formance,  as  the  Circus  is  very  convenient.  After  the  per 
formance  there  will  be  a  Grand  Fox  CHASE  on  the  Marshes 
near  the  Circus  to  start  precisely  at  6  o'clock." 

A  woman  tavern-keeper  on  Boston  Neck,  Sally 
Barton,  of  the  George,  also  had  bull-baiting  as 
one  of  the  attractions  of  her  home.  In  1763,  the 
keeper  of  the  DeLancey  Arms  in  New  York  had  a 
bull-baiting.  The  English  officers  stationed  in 
America  brought  over  this  fashion.  In  the  year 
1774,  there  was  a  bull-baiting  held  every  day  for 
many  months  on  what  is  now  a  quiet  street  near 
my  home.  Landlord  Loosely, —  most  appropri 
ately  named,  —  of  the  King's  Head  Tavern,  took 


2io  Stage-coach  and  Tavern    Days 

charge  of  these  bull-baitings  and  advertised  for  good 
active  bulls  and  strong  dogs.  One  advertisement, 
in  rhyme,  begins  :  — 

"  This  notice  gives  to  all  who  covet 
Baiting  the  bull,  and  dearly  love  it." 

Fox-hunting,  too,  was  beloved  of  the  British 
visitors,  and  of  Southern  planters  as  well.  The 
Middle  and  Southern  states  saw  frequent  meets  of 
mounted  gentlemen  with  hounds,  usually  at  the 
tavern,  to  which  they  returned  after  the  day's  run  to 
end  with  suitable  jollity. 

The  old  English  "  drift  of  the  forest  "  became  in 
America  a  wolf-rout  or  wolf-drive.  Then  circles 
of  men  and  boys  were  formed  to  drive  in  toward 
the  centre  of  the  ring  and  kill  squirrels  and  hares 
which  pestered  the  farmers.  Then  came  shooting 
matches  in  which  every  living  wild  creature  was  a 
prey.  The  extent  to  which  these  devastating  hunt 
ing  parties  could  be  carried  is  shown  by  an  article  in 
a  Bedford  County  (Pennsylvania)  newspaper.  On 
Friday,  December  4,  1818,  about  seven  hundred 
men  from  neighboring  townships  formed  such  a 
party.  The  signal  was  first  given  on  French  Town 
Mountain,  and  the  circle  of  forty  miles  of  horn 
blowing  to  horn  was  completed  in  fifteen  minutes. 
The  hunters  progressed  to  a  centre  in  Wysox  town 
ship,  using  guns  as  long  as  they  could  with  safety, 
then  bayonets,  clubs,  poles,  pitchforks,  etc.  Five 
bears,  nine  wolves,  and  fourteen  foxes  were  killed,  and 
three  hundred  deer  —  it  makes  one's  heart  ache.  It 
was  estimated  that  more  than  double  the  number 


The  Tavern   Panorama 


211 


escaped.      The  expedition  closed  with  great  mirth 
at  the  tavern. 

I  find  through  many  legal  reports  and  accounts 
of  trials  and  arrests,  that  upper  rooms  in  the  taverns 
were  frequently  used  as  lockups  or  temporary  jails. 
Mr.  S.  L.  Frey, 
of  Palatine  Bridge, 
in  his  charming  ac 
count  of  olden  days 
in  that  town,  tells  an 
amusing  episode  of 
tavern  life  connected 
with  this  custom. 
Near  the  village 
schoolhouse  lived  a 
man  named  Fisk  — 
a  quiet  citizen, 
friendly  to  the  boys, 
but  given,  however, 
to  frequent  disap 


pearances 


and 


Sign-board  of  Wolfe  Tavern,  Brooklyn, 
Connecticut. 


profound  reticence 
as  to  his  means  of 
livelihood  which  was 
naturally  a  distinct 

grievance  and  indeed  an  injustice  to  every  respect 
ably  inquisitive  neighbor.  The  boys  noted  that  he 
was  a  great  lover  of  horses,  and  seemed  to  have  a 
constant  succession  of  new  ones  in  his  stable,  and 
that  these  newcomers  vanished  in  as  silent  and 
unaccountable  a  manner  as  they  had  arrived. 
One  morning  the  scholars  were  excited  and  de- 


212  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

lighted  to  learn  that  the  band  of  horse  thieves  that 
had  for  years  ravaged  the  valley  had  at  last  been 
ferreted  out,  the  two  leaders  captured  and  safely 
lodged  during  the  night  in  the  village  jail,  namely, 
a  doubly  locked  and  outside  bolted  room  in  Uncle 
Jesse  Vincent's  tavern.  And  the  climax  of  all  the 
excitement  and  pleasure  was  the  fact  that  Neighbor 
Fisk  was  the  leader  of  the  gang. 

Court  was  called  in  the  tavern  parlor  at  noon. 
The  sheriff  and  his  officers,  lawyers  from  neigh 
boring  towns,  all  importance  and  pomposity,  all 
the  men  and  all  the  boys  from  miles  around  were 
waiting  eagerly  to  see  once  more  the  mysterious 
Fisk,  when  a  loud  shout  came  from  the  men  who 
had  gone  to  lead  forth  the  prisoners  that  both  had 
escaped.  Of  course  they  had  !  An  open  window,  a 
leanto  roof,  a  trellis  and  a  high  fence,  —  no  decent 
prisoner  could  help  escaping. 

But  they  had  been  startled  in  their  plans,  and 
hurried  while  exchanging  clothes,  and  it  was  plain 
from  the  garments  left  behind  that  one  man  had 
vanished  clad  only  in  his  shirt,  stockings,  and  shoes. 
The  dire  confusion  of  the  first  mortifying  discovery 
soon  changed  to  organized  plans  of  pursuit,  and  the 
chase  turned  to  a  great  piece  of  woodland  behind 
the  tavern.  Oak  and  hickory  with  undergrowth 
of  witchhazel  —  a  prime  place  for  partridges  and 
gray  squirrels  —  led  back  from  the  river  to  the 
hills  and  a  deep  gorge  filled  with  solemn  pines  and 
hemlocks. 

The  rampant  boys  were  snubbed  early  in  the  day 
by  the  sheriff  and  told  to  keep  back ;  and  one  tall 


The  Tavern   Panorama  213 

boy  —  "mad"  at  the  insult  —  conceived  the  plan  of 
personating  the  thief.  He  was  a  famous  runner, 
the  best  in  the  school.  He  hid  his  coat  in  a  hollow 
log,  pulled  his  shirt  over  his  trousers,  Chinaman 
fashion,  worked  his  way  around  on  the  edge  of  the 
hunting  party,  and  was  soon  "  discovered  "  by  his 
boy  friends,  whose  shouts  of  "  Stop  thief!  "  "  Here 
he  is  !  "  brought  the  whole  army  of  searchers  after 
him.  Oh  !  what  a  hunt  followed.  All  were  on 
foot,  for  no  horses  could  pass  through  the  heavy 
undergrowth  ;  the  white  flag  of  the  pursued  fluttered 
in  and  out  far  in  front  into  the  swamp,  under  the 
bushes.  Talk  of  hare  and  hounds  !  no  game  was 
ever  run  like  that.  The  fleet  young  horse  thief  in 
front  easily  distanced  the  puffing  sheriffs  in  the 
rear,  and  at  last  the  pursuit  was  given  over.  Fisk 
escaped,  thanks  to  his  friends  the  boys,  but  the 
story  of  the  wrath  that  was  visited  on  the  conspira 
tors  when  their  fun  was  discovered  the  next  day  at 
the  tavern  is  "another  story." 

Sittings  of  courts  were  often  held  in  the  public 
room  of  taverns,  not  only  in  small  towns  where 
assembly  rooms  were  few,  but  in  large  cities.  From 
the  settlement  of  Philadelphia  till  1759,  justices 
of  peace  heard  and  decided  causes  in  the  public 
inns  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Common  Council 
had  frequent  sittings  there.  In  Boston  the  courts 
were  held  in  suburban  taverns  when  the  small 
pox  scourged  the  town.  In  Postlethwaite's  Tavern 
(shown  on  page  214)  the  first  courts  of  Lancaster 
County,  Pennsylvania,  were  held  in  1729,  and 
propositions  were  made  to  make  it  the  county  seat; 


2I4 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


but  the  present  site  of  the  city  of  Lancaster  was 
finally  chosen,  though  Landlord  Postlethwaite  made 
strenuous  endeavors  to  retain  his  tavern  as  a 
centre. 

Our    ancestors    found   in    criminals    and    all    the 
accompaniments  of  crime  their  chief  source  of  diver- 


Postlethwaite's  Tavern,   1729. 


sion.  They  did  not  believe  in  lonely  captivity  but 
in  public  obloquy  for  criminals.  The  only  exciting 
and  stirring  emotions  which  entered  their  lives  came 
through  the  recounting  of  crimes  and  offences,  and 
the  sight  of  the  punishment  of  these  crimes  and 
offences  ;  rising  of  course  to  the  highest  point  of 
excitement  in  witnessing  the  public  executions  of 


The  Tavern  Panorama  215 

criminals.  The  bilboes  were  the  first  engine  of  pun 
ishment  in  Boston,  and  were  used  until  1639,  anc^ 
perhaps  much  later.  The  drinkers  of  a  cup  of  sack 
at  the  Boston  ordinary  had  much  diversion  in  seeing 
James  Woodward,  who  had  had  too  much  sack  at 
the  Cambridge  ordinary,  "  laid  by  the  heels  "  on 
the  ground  with  a  great  bar  of  iron  fastened  and 
locked  to  his  legs  with  sliding  shackles  and  a  bolt. 
Still  more  satisfaction  had  all  honest  Puritans 
when  Thomas  Morton,  of  Merrymount,  that  amus 
ing  old  debauchee  and  roisterer,  was  "  clapt  into 
the  bilbowes,"  where  "  the  harmless  salvages " 
gathered  around  and  stared  at  him  like  "  poor  silly 
lambes." 

The  stocks  soon  superseded  the  bilboes  and  were 
near  neighbors  and  amusement  purveyors  to  the 
tavern.  Towns  were  forced  by  law  to  set  up  "good 
sufficient  stocks."  Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  ordered 
that  "  John  Lowe  should  erect  the  public  stocks 
and  whipping-post  near  David  Arnold's  Tavern, 
and  procure  iron  and  timber  for  the  same."  The 
stocks  were  simple  to  make ;  a  heavy  timber  or 
plank  had  on  the  upper  edge  two  half-circle  holes 
which  met  two  similar  notches  or  holes  in  a  movable 
upper  timber.  When  this  was  in  place  these  notches 
formed  round  holes  to  enclose  the  legs  of  the  pris 
oner,  who  could  then  be  locked  in. 

The  whipping-post,  a  good  sound  British  institu 
tion,  was  promptly  set  up  in  every  town,  and  the 
sound  of  the  cat  often  entered  the  tavern  windows. 
I  can  imagine  all  the  young  folk  thronging  to  wit 
ness  the  whippii  g  of  some  ardent  young  swain  who 


216  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

had  dared  to  make  love  to  some  fair  damsel  with 
out  the  consent  of  her  parents.  ^There  was  no 
room  for  the  escape  of  any  man  who  thus  "  in- 
veagled  "  a  girl ;  the  New  Haven  colony  specified 
that  any  tempting  without  the  parents'  sanction 
could  not  be  done  by  "speech,  writing,  message, 
company-keeping,  unnecessary  familiarity,  disorderly 
night  meetings,  sinful  dalliance,  gifts,  or  (as  a  whole 
sale  blow  to  lovers'  inventions)  in  any  other  way." 
But  sly  Puritan  maids  found  that  even  the  "  any 
other  way  "  of  Puritan  law-makers  could  be  circum 
vented.  Jacob  Murline,  in  Hartford,  on  May-day 
in  1660,  without  asking  any  permission  of  Good 
man  Tuttle,  had  some  very  boisterous  love-making 
with  Sarah  Tuttle,  his  daughter.  It  began  by  Jacob's 
seizing  Sarah's  gloves  and  demanding  the  mediaeval 
forfeit  —  a  kiss.  "Whereupon,"  writes  the  scan 
dalized  Puritan  chronicler,  "  they  sat  down  together, 
his  arm  being  about  her,  and  her  arm  upon  his 
shoulder  or  about  his  neck,  and  hee  kissed  her  and 
shee  kissed  him,  or  they  kissed  one  another,  con 
tinuing  in  this  posture  about  half  an  hour."  The 
angry  father,  on  hearing  of  this,  haled  Jacob  into 
court  and  sued  him  for  damages  in  "  inveagling " 
his  daughter's  affections.  There  were  plenty  of 
witnesses  of  the  kissing,  and  Jacob  seemed  doomed 
to  heavy  fines  and  the  cat-o'-nine-tails,  when  crafty 
Sarah  informed  the  Court  that  Jacob  did  not  inveigle 
her,  that  she  wished  him  to  kiss  her — in  fact,  that 
she  enticed  him.  The  baffled  Court  therefore  had 
to  fine  Sarah,  and  of  course  Sarah's  father  had  to 
pay  the  fine;  but  the  magistrate  called  her  justly  a 


The  Tavern   Panorama  217 

"  Bould  Virgin,"  and  lectured  her  severely.  To  all 
this  she  gave  the  demure  answer  "that  she  hoped 
God  would  help  her  to  Carry  it  Better  for  time  to 
come,"  which  would  seem  to  be  somewhat  super 
fluous,  since  she  had,  without  any  help,  seemed  to 
do  about  as  well  for  herself  as  any  girl  could  wish 
to  under  the  cir 
cumstances. 

For  some  years 
the  Quakers 
never  were  absent 
from  the  whip 
ping-post.  They 
were  trying 
enough,  preach 
ing  everywhere, 
and  on  all  occa 
sions,  yet  never 
willing  to  keep 
silent  when  the 
Puritan  preacher 
held  forth ;  not 
willing,  even,  to 
keep  away  from 

i       ^w-,       .       '  Sign-board  of  Pembroke  Tavern. 

the  Puritan  meet 
ing.  They  interrupted  these  meetings  in  most 
offensive  ways,  and  were  promptly  whipped.  One 
poor  Quakeress,  Lydia  Wardwell,  "  a  young  tender 
chaste  person,"  but  almost  demented  with  religious 
excitement,  was  taken  forcibly  from  the  Ipswich 
meeting-house  and  "  tyed  to  the  fence-post  of  the 
Tavern,"  and  then  sorely  lashed. 


218  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

The  pillory  sometimes  took  the  place  of  the 
stocks.  In  enduring  this  punishment  the  culprit 
stood  on  a  sort  of  bench,  and  his  head  and  hands 
were  confined  in  holes  cut  in  a  hinged  or  divisible 
board.  Lecture  day  was  often  chosen  as  the  day  of 
punishment ;  as  Hawthorne  said,  "  it  was  a  day  of 
public  shame,  the  day  on  which  -transgressors  re 
ceived  their  reward  of  ignominy."  Thus  Nicholas 
Olmstead,  sentenced  to  the  pillory  in  Hartford  "next 
Lecture  day,"  was  "  sett  on  a  lytle  before  the  begin 
ning  and  to  stay  on  a  lytle  after  the  end."  In  Mary 
land  offenders  were  "  nayled  by  both  eares  to  the 
Pillory,  3  Nailes  in  each  Eare,  and  the  Nailes  to  be 
slit  out."  Samuel  Breck  says  that  in  1771,  in  Bos 
ton,  men  and  women  were  constantly  seen  pilloried, 
exposed  to  insults  and  jeers,  and  pelted  with  filth 
and  garbage. 

The  1 8th  of  September,  1755,  was  a  great  day  in 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  A  negro  woman  named 
Phyllis  was  then  and  there  burned  to  death  —  in 
punishment  for  her  share  in  the  murder  of  her 
master.  The  diary  of  a  Boston  gentleman  still 
exists  which  shows  us  how  he  passed  the  day ; 
cheerfully  drinking  punch  from  tavern  to  tavern, 
and  cheerfully  watching  the  hanging  of  the  man- 
murderer  and  the  burning  of  the  woman.  The 
day's  record  ends :  "  Went  home,  went  to  bed 
and  slept  and  woke  up  very  finely  refreshed." 
Criminals  were  preached  at  in  public,  read  their 
dying  confessions  in  public,  were  carted  through 
the  streets  in  open  tumbrils,  and  were  hanged  in 
public.  On  all  those  occasions  the  taverns  flowed 


The  Tavern   Panorama  219 

with  good  cheer  and  merry  meetings,  for  people 
came  for  many  miles  to  witness  the  interesting 
sight,  and  many  were  the  happy  reunions  of 
friends. 

^Another  bustling  busy  day  at  the  tavern  was 
when  "  vandues  "  were  held  within  its  walls.  Due 
notice  of  these  "  vandues  "  had  been  given  by  post 
ers  displayed  in  the  tavern  and  village  store,  and 
occasionally  by  scant  newspaper  advertisements. 
These  auction  sales  were  rarely  of  mixed  merchan 
dise,  but  were  of  some  special  goods,  such  as  India 
cotton  stuffs,  foreign  books,  or  boots  and  shoes. 
Criminals  and  paupers  were  also  sold  for  terms 
of  service ;  usually  the  former  were  some  of 
the  varied  tribe  of  sneak-thieves  which  wandered 
through  the  country.  In  one  case  the  human 
"  lot "  offered  for  sale  was  a  "  prygman  "  -he  had, 
like  Autolycus,  stolen  the  bleaching  linen  from  the 
grass  attd  hedges. 

Another  was  an  habitual  fruit  and  vegetable  thief 
(and  he  must  have  been  an  extraordinary  one  to 
have  been  noted  in  a  country  where  fruit  and  vege 
tables  on  every  farm  were  so  freely  shared  with  all 
passers-by).  Another,  an  Indian,  stole  from  the 
lobster  and  eel  pots  of  his  honest  white  neighbors. 
A  sheep  thief,  sold  at  public  auction  in  Clifford's 
Tavern  in  Dunbarton,  New  Hampshire,  took  part 
in  an  interesting  prologue,  as  well  as  in  the  main 
performance,  in  the  shape  of  a  whipping  of  thirteen 
stripes  administered  to  him  by  the  vigorous  sheriff. 
Nevertheless,  he  found  a  purchaser,  who  took  his 
subdued  and  sore  servant  home  to  his  farm  and  set 


22O  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


him  to  breaking  and  hatchelling  flax.  The  convict 
fell  to  work  as  cheerfully  and  assiduously  as  any 
honest  laborer,  but  when  he  had  cleaned  as  much 
flax  as  he  could  carry,  he  added  an  unexpected 

epilogue  to  this 
New  England 
comedy  by  de 
parting  with  his 
dressed  flax  for 
parts  unknown; 
thus  proving 
that  he  laughs 
best  who  laughs 
last.  Though 
it  would  seem 
that  the  select 
men  of  the 
town,  who  had 
been  amply  paid 
"  damages  and 
costs  "  through 
his  sale,  and 
who  had  also 
effectually  ban 
ished  a  rogue 
from  their  town 
ship,  might  join  with  him  in  a  mirthful  chorus. 

The  sale  of  paupers  at  the  tavern  was  much  more 
frequent  than  of  criminals.  It  was  an  exhibition 
of  curious  contrasts  :  the  prosperous  and  thirsty 
townsmen  drinking  at  the  tavern  bar,  and  the  for 
lorn  group  of  homeless,  friendless  creatures,  usually 


Map  Pitcher. 


The  Tavern   Panorama  121 

young  children  and  aged  folk,  waiting  to  be  sold  to 
the  lowest  bidder  for  a  term  of  feeble  service  and 
meagre  keep.  The  children  were  known  after  the 
sale  as  "  bound  boys  "  and  "  bound  girls,"  and  much 
sympathy  has  been  expended  in  modern  books  over 
the  hardness  of  their  lives,  and  many  pathetic 
stories  written  of  them.  This  method  was,  how 
ever,  as  good  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  infant 
pauperism  as  we  have  yet  discovered.  The  chil 
dren  were  removed  from  vicious  associations  in 
almshouses,  and  isolated  in  homes  where  they  had 
to  work  just  as  the  daughters  and  sons  of  the 
household  worked.  In  many  cases  they  entered 
childless  homes,  and  grew  to  be  the  prop  and  hap 
piness  of  their  adopted  parents,  and  the  heirs  of 
their  little  savings.  The  auction  at  the  tavern  was 
frankly  brutal,  but  the  end  accomplished  was  so 
satisfactory  that  the  custom  has  within  a  few  years 
been  resumed  by  the  more  advanced  and  thought 
ful  guardians  of  paupers  in  many  New  England 
towns.  As  for  the  auction  sale  of  aged  and  infirm 
paupers,  it  is  not  wholly  a  thing  of  the  past.  In 
Lackawanna  township  in  Pike  County,  Pennsyl 
vania,  paupers  still  are  sold  to  the  lowest  bidder. 
A  year  ago,  in  1899,  at  Rowland  Station  in  that 
township  the  signs  were  posted,  "  A  Woman  for 
Sale,"  and  as  of  old  the  "  vandue  "  was  held  at  a 
tavern,  one  called  Rutan's  Hotel.  The  bar-room 
was  crowded,  and  Mrs.  Elmira  Quick,  seventy- 
seven  years  old,  was  put  up  "  to  be  sold  to  the 
lowest  bidder  for  keep  for  a  year."  The  bidding 
was  spirited  and  ran  quickly  down  from  four  dol- 


222  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

lars  a  week.  A  backwoodsman  had  just  offered  to 
take  her  for  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  week,  when  Mrs 
Quick  firmly  bid  a  dollar  and  a  quarter.  .The 
Overseer  of  the  Poor  hesitated,  but  Mrs.  Quick 
stated  she  could  maintain  herself  on  that  amount  — 
sixteen  cents  a  day  —  and  no  one  made  an  offer  to 
take  her  for  less  ;  so  he  was  forced  to  conclude  the 
bargain  and  draw  up  the  sale-papers.  Let  me  add 
that  this  woman  has  three  sons  and  a  daughter  liv 
ing  —  and  these  are  our  good  new  times. 


CHAPTER  X 

FROM     PATH    TO    TURNPIKE 

THE  first  roads  in  New  England  are  called  in 
the  early  court-records  "trodden  paths." 
They  were  narrow  worn  lines,  scarce  two 
feet  wide,  lightly  trodden  over  pine  needles  and 
fallen  leaves  among  the  tree  trunks  by  the  soft 
moccasined  foot  of  the  tawny  savages  as  they  walked 
silently  in  Indian  file  through  the  forests.  These 
paths  were  soon  deepened  and  worn  bare  by  the 
heavy  hobnailed  shoes  of  the  white  settlers,  others 
were  formed  by  the  slow  tread  of  domestic  cattle, 
the  best  of  all  path  makers,  as  they  wound  around 
the  hillsides  to  pasture  or  drinking  place.  Then 
a  scarcely  broader  bridle-path  for  horses,  perhaps 
with  blazed  trees  as  guide-posts,  widened  slowly 
to  travelled  roads  and  uneven  cart-ways.  These 
roads  followed  and  still  wind  to-day  in  the  very  lines 
of  the  foot-path  and  the  cattle-track. 

The  early  colonists  walked  as  did  their  predeces 
sors,  the  Indians,  on  their  own  stout  legs,  when  they 
travelled  by  land.  We  find  even  the  governors  of 
the  colonies  walking  off  sturdily  into  the  forests  ; 
crossing  the  rivers  and  brooks  on  fallen  trees  :  and 
sometimes  being  carried  across  "pick-a-back"  by 

223 


224  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

vigorous  Indian  guides.  We  have  one  record  of 
Governor  Winthrop  in  that  dependent  and  rather 
un-governor-like  attitude,  and  it  is  well  to  think  of 
this  picture  of  him  as  affording  a  glimpse  of  one  of 
the  human  sides  of  his  life,  to  balance  the  prevail 
ing  Chinese  worship  and  idealization  of  him  and  our 
other  ancestors. 

The  earliest  trail  or  path  was  the  old  Plymouth 
or  Coast  Path,  which  connected  the  capitols  of  two 
colonies,  Boston  and  Plymouth.  It  ran  through 
old  Braintree,  and  its  permanence  was  established  by 
an  action  of  the  General  Court  in  1639.  The  Old 
Connecticut  Path  started  from  Cambridge,  ran 
through  Marlborough,  Grafton,  Oxford,  and  on  to 
Springfield  and  Albany.  The  New  Connecticut 
Path  or  Road  started  also  from  Cambridge,  thence 
to  Grafton,  then  to  Worcester,  Brookfield,  and  on 
to  Albany.  The  Providence  Path  ran  through 
Narragansett  and  Providence  Plantations.  The 
Nipmuck  Trail  was  made  from  Norwich.  The 
"  Kennebunk  Road  by  the  Sea "  was  ordered  by 
the  Massachusetts  Commissioners  in  1653,  suffi 
cient  highway  "  between  towns  and  towns  for  horse 
and  foot."  Kittery  and  York  were  enjoined  to 
"  make  straight  and  convenient  way  along  East  for 
Man  and  Horse." 

The  most  famous  of  all  these  paths  was  the  one 
known  as  the  Bay  Path.  It  was  in  existence  in 
1673,  and  doubtless  before.  It  left  the  Old  Con 
necticut  Path  at  Wayland,  Massachusetts,  and  ran 
through  Marlborough  to  Worcester,  then  to  Oxford, 
Charlton,  and  Brookfield,  where  jutted  off  the  Had- 


From   Path  to  Turnpike  225 

ley  Path,  to  Ware,  Belchertown,  and  Hadley,  while 
the  Bay  Path  rejoined  the  Old  Connecticut  Path 
and  thus  on  to  Springfield.  Holland  wrote  of  the 
Bay  Path  in  his  novel  of  that  title  :  - 

"It  was  marked  by  trees  a  portion  of  the  distance  and  by 
slight  clearings  of  brush  and  thicket  for  the  remainder.  No 
stream  was  bridged,  no  hill  was  graded,  and  no  marsh 
drained.  The  path  led  through  woods  which  bore  the 
mark  of  centuries,  over  barren  hills  which  had  been  licked 
by  the  Indian  hounds  of  fire,  and  along  the  banks  of  streams 
that  the  seine  had  never  dragged.  A  powerful  interest  was 
attached  to  the  Bay  Path.  It  was  the  channel  through 
which  laws  were  communicated,  through  which  flowed 
news  from  distant  friends,  and  through  which  came  long, 
loving  letters  and  messages.  That  rough  thread  of  soil, 
chipped  by  the  blades  of  a  hundred  streams,  was  a  trail  that 
radiated  at  each  terminus  into  a  thousand  fibres  of  love, 
and  interest,  and  hope,  and  memory.  Every  rod  had  been 
prayed  over  by  friends  on  the  journey  and  friends  at  home." 

Born  in  a  home  almost  by  the  wayside  of  the  old 
Bay  Path,  I  feel  deeply  the  inexplicable  charm 
which  attaches  itself  to  these  old  paths  or  trails.  I 
have  ridden  hundreds  of  miles  on  these  various 
Indian  paths,  and  I  ever  love  to  trace  the  roadway 
where  it  is  now  the  broad,  travelled  road,  and  where 
it  turns  aside  in  an  overgrown  and  narrow  lane 
which  is  to-day  almost  as  neglected  and  wild  as  the 
old  path.  There  still  seems  to  cling  to  it  something 
of  the  human  interest  ever  found  in  a  foot-path,  the 
intangible  attraction  which  makes  even  the  simplest 
foot-path  across  a  pasture,  or  up  a  wooded  hill,  full 
of  charm,  of  suggestion,  of  sentiment. 


226  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

It  is  interesting  to  see  how  quickly  the  colonists 
acquired  horses.  Before  John  Winthrop  died  Massa 
chusetts  had  a  cavalry  corps.  Restrictive  measures 
were  enjoined  by  the  magistrates  to  improve  the 
breed  and  limit  the  number  of  horses.  These  horses 
were  poor  and  scrubby  and  small,  but  before  1635 
a  cargo  of  Flemish  draft  horses  was  imported.  A 
characteristic  American  breed,  the  Narragansett 
Pacers,  was  reared  in  Rhode  Island.  They  were 
famous  saddle-horses,  giving  ease  of  motion  to  the 
rider,  being  sure-footed  and  most  tough  and  en 
during.  For  a  century  they  were  raised  in  large 
numbers  and  sold  at  good  prices,  but  became  little 
valued  after  trotting-horses  were  bred  and  folk 
drove  instead  of  riding  horseback.  I  saw  the  last 
of  the  Narragansett  Pacers.  She  died  about  twenty 
years  ago  ;  of  an  ugly  sorrel  color,  with  broad  back 
and  short  legs  and  a  curious  rocking  pace,  she 
seemed  almost  a  caricature  of  a  horse,  but  was,  never 
theless,  a  source  of  inordinate  pride  to  her  owner. 

Women  rode  with  as  much  ease  and  frequency  as 
men.  Young  girls  rode  on  side  saddles  for  long 
journeys.  Older  women  rode  behind  men  on  pil 
lions,  which  were  padded  cushions  which  had  a  sort 
of  platform  stirrup.  An  excellent  representation  of 
a  pillion  is  here  given  in  Mr.  Henry's  charming 
picture,  "  Waiting  at  the  Ferry,"  as  well  as  of  an 
old-time  gig  used  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and 
in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Horseflesh  was  so  plentiful  that  "  no  one  walked 
save  a  vagabond  or  a  fool."  Doubtless  our  national 
characteristic  of  never  walking  a  step  when  we  can 


OF    THK 

UNIVERSITY 
A* 


From  Path  to  Turnpike  227 

ride  dates  from  the  days  "  when  we  lived  under  the 
King."  Driving  alone,  that  is,  a  man  or  woman 
driving  for  pleasure  alone,  without  a  driver  or  post 
boy,  is  an  American  fashion.  It  was  carried  back 
to  Europe  by  both  the  French  and  English  officers 
who  were  here  in  Revolutionary  times.  The  custom 
was  noted  with  approval  by  the  French  in  their  vari 
ous  books  and  letters  on  this  country.  They  also, 
La  Rochefoucauld  among  them,  praised  our  roads. 

Mr.  Ernst,  an  authority  upon  transportation  and 
postal  matters,  believes  that  our  roads  in  the  northern 
provinces,  on  the  whole,  were  excellent.  He  says 
that  the  actual  cost  of  the  roads  as  contained  in 
Massachusetts  records  proves  that  the  notion  that 
our  New  England  roads  were  wretched  is  not 
founded  on  fact.  He  notes  our  great  use  of  pleas 
ure  carriages  as  a  proof  of  good  roads;  in  1753 
Massachusetts  had  about  seven  such  carriages  to 
every  thousand  persons.  The  English  carriages 
were  very  heavy.  In  America  we  adopted  the  light 
weight  continental  carriages  —  because  our  roads 
were  good. 

The  corduroy  road  was  one  of  the  common  road 
improvements  made  to  render  the  roads  passable  by 
carts  and  stage-wagons.  Marshy  places  and  chuck- 
holes  were  filled  up  with  saplings  and  logs  from  the 
crowded  forests,  and  whole  roads  were  made  of  logs 
which  were  cut  in  lengths  about  ten  or  twelve  feet 
long,  and  laid  close  to  each  other  across  the  road. 
Many  corduroy  roads  still  remain,  and  some  are 
veritable  antiques ;  in  Canada  they  still  are  built. 
A  few  years  ago  I  rode  many  miles  over  one  in  a 


228  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

miner's  springless  cart  over  the  mountains  of  the 
Alexandrite  range  in  upper  Canada,  and  I  deem  it 
the  most  trying  ordeal  I  ever  experienced. 

As  soon  as  there  were  roads,  there  were  ferries  and 
bridges.  Out  from  Boston  to  the  main  were  ferries 
in  1639  to  Chelsea  and  Charlestown.  There  was  a 
"  cart-bridge "  built  by  Boston  and  Roxbury  over 
Muddy  River  in  1633.  There  was  a  "foot-bridge" 
also  at  Scituate,  and  at  Ipswich  in  1635.  -"-n  J^34 
a  "  horse-bridge  "  was  built  at  Neponset,  and  others 
soon  followed.  These  had  a  railing  on  one  side 
only.  It  was  a  great  step  when  the  "  Bay  "  granted 
fifty  pounds  to  Lynn  for  a  cart-bridge  where  there 
had  been  only  a  ferry.  After  King  Philip's  War, 
cart-bridges  multiplied ;  there  was  one  in  Scituate, 
one  in  Bristol,  one  in  Cambridge. 

These  early  bridges  of  provincial  days  were  but 
insecure  makeshifts  in  many  cases,  miserable  floating 
bridges  being  common  across  the  wide  rivers.  In 
England  bridges  were  poor  also.  We  were  to  be 
early  in  fine  bridge-building,  and  to  excel  in  it  as  we 
have  to  this  day.  We  were  also  in  advance  of  the 
mother  country  in  laying  macadamized  roads,  in  the 
use  of  mail-coaches,  in  modes  of  steam  travel  by 
water,  just  as  we  were  in  using  flintlock  firearms, 
and  other  advanced  means  of  warfare. 

The  Charles  River  between  Boston  and  Charles- 
town  was  about  as  wide  at  the  point  where  the  old 
ferry  crossed  as  was  the  Thames  at  London  Bridge, 
and  Americans  were  emulative  of  that  structure. 
Much  talking  and  planning  was  done,  but  no  bridge 
was  built  across  the  Charles  till  after  the  Revolu- 


From   Path  to  Turnpike  229 

tion.  Then  Lemuel  Cox,  a  Medford  shipwright, 
planned  and  built  a  successful  bridge  in  1786.  It 
was  the  longest  bridge  in  the  world,  and  deemed  a 
triumph  of  engineering.  The  following  year  he 
built  the  Maiden  Bridge,  then  the  fine  Essex  Bridge 
at  Salem.  In  1770  Cox  went  to  Ireland  and  built 
a  bridge  nine  hundred  feet  long  over  the  deep  Foyle 
at  Londonderry,  Ireland.  This  was  another  Ameri 
can  victory,  for  the  great  English  engineer,  Milne, 
had  pronounced  the  deed  impossible.  This  bridge 
was  of  American  oak  and  pine,  and  was  built  by 
Maine  lumbermen  and  carpenters. 

According  to  the  universal  "  Gust  of  the  Age" 
—  as  Dr.  Prince  said  —  the  aid  of  the  Muses  was 
called  in  to  celebrate  the  opening  of  the  Charles- 
town  Bridge.  This  took  place  on  the  anniversary 
of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  a  vast  feast 
was  given.  Broadsides  were  distributed  bearing 
"poems"  as  long  as  the  bridge.  Here  are  a  few 
specimen  verses  :  — 

"  I  sing  the  day  in  which  the  BRIDGE 

Is  finished  and  done. 
Boston  and  Charlestown  lads  rejoice 
And  fire  your  cannon  guns. 

"  The  BRIDGE  is  finished  now  I  say 

Each  other  bridge  outvies 
For  London  Bridge  compared  with  ours 
Appears  in  dim  disguise. 

*'  Now  Boston  Charlestown  nobly  join 

And  roast  a  fatted  Ox 
On  noted  Bunker  Hill  combine 
To  toast  our  Patriot  Cox. 


230  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

"  May  North  and  South  and  Charlestown  all 

Agree  with  one  consent 
To  love  each  one  like  Indian's  rum 
On  publick  good  be  bent." 

A  perfect  epidemic  of  bridge-building  broke  out 
all  over  the  states.  In  our  pride  we  wished  to  ex 
hibit  our  superiority  over  the  English  everywhere. 
Throughout  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  upper 
Virginia,  fine  wooden  and  stone  bridges  were  built. 
On  all  the  turnpikes  the  bridges  equalled  the  roads. 
Many  of  those  bridges  still  are  in  use.  The  oldest 
suspension  bridge  in  America,  the  "  chain-bridge  " 
at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  is  still  standing.  A 
picture  of  it  here  is  shown.  It  is  a  graceful  bridge, 
and  its  lovely  surroundings  add  to  its  charm. 

The  traveller  Melish  noted  specially,  in  1812,  the 
fine  Trenton  Bridge,  "  very  elegant,  nine  hundred 
and  seventy  feet  long,  with  two  carriage  ways  "  ;  the 
West  Boston  Bridge  "  three  thousand  feet  long, 
with  a  causeway  three  thousand  more  ";  the  Schuyl- 
kill  Bridge,  which  cost  over  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

So  bad  was  the  state  of  English  roads  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  it  took  two  days' 
and  three  nights'  incessant  travel  to  get  from  Man 
chester  to  Glasgow.  The  crossroads  were  worse. 
In  many  cases  when  mail-coaches  had  been  granted, 
the  roads  were  too  poor  to  receive  them.  The 
ruts,  or  rather  trenches,  were  up  to  the  axletrees. 
When  a  mail-coach  was  put  on  the  Holyhead  Road 
in  1808,  twenty-two  townships  were  indicted  for 
having  their  roads  in  a  dangerous  condition.  This 


From   Path  to  Turnpike  231 

road  had  vast  sums  spent  upon  it ;  in  the  six  years 
succeeding  1825  it  had  ,£83,700  for  "  improve 
ments,"  and  repairs  were  paid  by  the  tolls.  Its 
condition  now  is  very  mean,  grass-grown  in  places, 
and  in  ill-repair. 

The  system  of  road-making  known  as  macadam 
izing  received  its  name  from  Mr.  Loudon  McAdam, 
who  came  to  England  from  America  in  1783  at  a 
time  when  many  new  roads  were  being  made  in 
Scotland.  These  roads  he  studied  and  in  1816 
became  road  surveyor  in  Bristol,  where  he  was 
able  to  carry  his  principles  into  practice.  The 
leading  feature  of  his  system  was  setting  a  limit  in 
size  and  weight  to  the  stones  to  be  used  on  the 
roads,  the  weight  limit  being  six  ounces;  also  to 
prohibit  any  mixture  of  clay,  earth,  or  chalk  with 
the  stone.  Similar  roads  had  been  made  in  Penn 
sylvania  long  before  they  were  laid  in  England,  and 
had  been  tested ;  and  without  doubt  McAdam 
simply  followed  methods  he  had  seen  successfully 
used  in  America.  Among  others  the  Salem  and 
Boston  Turnpike,  the  Essex  Turnpike  (between 
Salem  and  Andover),  and  the  Newburyport  Turn 
pike,  all  macadamized  roads,  were  in  successful 
operation  before  Telford  and  McAdam  had  per 
fected  their  systems. 

McAdam's  son,  Sir  James  McAdam,  was  Gen 
eral  Superintendent  of  Metropolitan  Roads  in  Eng 
land  when,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  the  calamity  of 
railways  fell  upon  us."  This  "calamity"  brought 
these  results  :  coaches  ran  less  frequently,  and  all 
horse-carriage  decreased,  toll  receipts  diminished, 


232  Stage-coach  and   Tavern   Days 

many  turnpike  roads  became  bankrupt  and  passed 
into  possession  of  towns  and  parishes,  and  are  kept 
in  scarcely  passable  repair.  Many  English  macad 
amized  roads  are  only  kept  in  order  in  half,  while 
the  other  part  of  the  road  bears  weeds  and  grass. 

The  first  American  turnpike  was  not  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  as  is  usually  stated,  but  in  Virginia.  It  con 
nected  Alexandria  (then  supposed  to  be  the  rising 
metropolis)  with  "  Sniggers  and  Vesta's  Gaps  "  — 
that  is,  the  lower  Shenandoah.  This  turnpike  was 
started  in  1785-86,  and  Thomas  Jefferson  pro 
nounced  it  a  success.  In  1787  the  Grand  Jury  of 
Baltimore  reported  the  state  of  the  country  roads  as 
a  public  grievance,  and  the  Frederick,  Reisters- 
town,  and  York  roads  were  laid  out  anew  by  the 
county  as  turnpikes  with  toll-gates.  In  1804  these 
roads  were  granted  to  corporate  companies.  Others 
soon  followed,  till  all  the  main  roads  through  Mary 
land  were  turnpikes. 

The  most  important  early  turnpike  was  the  one 
known  as  the  National  Road  because  it  was  made 
by  the  national  government.  It  extended  at  first 
from  Cumberland  to  Wheeling,  and  was  afterward 
carried  farther.  When  first  opened  it  was  a  hun 
dred  and  thirty  miles  long,  and  cost  one  and  three- 
quarters  millions  of  dollars.  Proposed  in  Congress 
in  1797,  an  act  providing  for  its  construction  was 
passed  nine  years  later,  and  the  first  mail-coach 
carrying  the  United  States  mail  travelled  over  it  in 
August,  1818.  It  was  a  splendid  road,  sixty  feet 
wide,  of  stone  broken  to  pass  through  a  three-inch 
ring,  then  covered  with  gravel  and  rolled  down  with 


From    Path   to  Turnpike 


233 


an  iron  roller.      One  who  saw  the  constructive  work 
on  it  wrote  :  — 

"  That  great  contractor,  Mordecai  Cochran,  with  his  im 
mortal  Irish  brigade  —  a  thousand  strong,  with  their  carts, 
wheelbarrows,  picks,  shovels,  and  blasting-tools,  graded  the 
commons  and  climbed  the  mountain  side,  leaving  behind 
them  a  roadway  good  enough  for  an  emperor." 

Over  this  National  Road  journeyed  many  con 
gressmen  to  and  from  Washington  ;  and  the  mail 
contractors,  anxious 
to  make  a  good  im 
pression  on  these 
senators  and  repre 
sentatives,  and  thus 
gain  fresh  privileges 
and  large  appropria 
tions,  ever  kept  up 
a  splendid  stage  line. 
It  was  on  this  line 
that  the  phrase 
"chalking  his  hat" 
—  or  the  free  pass 
system — originated. 
Mr.  Reeside,  the 

agent  of  the    road,  Brjdge  Toll .board 

occasionally    ten 
dered  a  free  ride  to  some  member  of  Congress,  and 
devised  a  hieroglyphic  which  he  marked  in  chalk  on 
the  representative's  hat,  in  order  that  none  of  his 
drivers  should  be  imposed  upon  by  forged  passes. 

The  intent  was  to  extend  this  road  to  St.  Louis. 


234  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

From  Cumberland  to  Baltimore  the  cost  of  con 
struction  fell  on  certain  banks  in  Maryland,  which 
were  rechartered  on  condition  that  they  completed 
the  road.  Instead  of  being  a  burden  to  them,  it 
became  a  lucrative  property,  yielding  twenty  per 
cent  profit  for  many  years.  Not  only  was  this 
road  excellently  macadamized,  but  stone  bridges 
were  built  for  it  over  rivers  and  creeks ;  the  dis 
tances  were  indexed  by  iron  mileposts,  and  the  toll 
houses  were  supplied  with  strong  iron  gates. 

On  other  turnpikes  throughout  the  country  Irish 
laborers  were  employed  to  dig  the  earth  and  break 
the  stone.  Until  this  time  Irish  immigration  had 
been  slight  in  this  country,  and  in  many  small  com 
munities  where  the  new  turnpikes  passed  the  first 
Irish  immigrants  were  stared  at  as  curiosities. 

The  story  of  the  old  Mohawk  Turnpike  is  one 
of  deep  interest.  After  the  Revolution  a  great 
movement  of  removal  to  the  West  swept  through 
New  England;  in  the  winter  of  1795,  in  three  days 
twelve  hundred  sleighs  passed  through  Albany  bear 
ing  sturdy  New  England  people  as  settlers  to  the 
Genesee  Valley.  Others  came  on  horseback,  pros 
pecting,  —  farmers  with  well-filled  saddle  bags  and 
pocketbooks.  Among  those  thrifty  New  Eng- 
landers  were  two  young  men  named  Whetmore 
and  Norton,  from  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  who 
noted  the  bad  roads  over  which  all  this  travel 
passed ;  and  being  surveyors,  they  planned  and 
eventually  carried  out  a  turnpike.  The  first  charter, 
granted  in  1797,  was  for  the  sixteen  miles  between 
Albany  and  Schenectady.  When  that  was  finished, 


From   Path   to  Turnpike 


235 


in  1 800,  the  turnpike  from  Schenectady  to  Utica, 
sixty-eight  miles  long,  was  begun.  The  public 
readily  subscribed  to  build  these  roads ;  the  flow 
of  settlers  in 
creased;  the 
price  of  land  ad 
vanced  ;  every 
where  activity 
prevailed.  The 
turnpike  was 
filled  with  great 
trading  wagons  ; 
there  was  a  tav 
ern  at  every 
mile  on  the 
road;  fifty-two 
within  fifty 
miles  of  Albany, 
but  there  were 
not  taverns 
enough  to  meet 
the  demand 
caused  by  the 
great  travel. 
Eighty  or  one 
hundred  horses 
would  s  o  m  e- 
times  be  stabled  at  a  single  tavern.  All  teamsters 
desired  stable-room  for  their  horses  ;  but  so  crowded 
were  the  tavern  sheds  that  many  carried  sheets  of 
oilcloth  to  spread  over  their  horses  at  night  in  case 
they  could  not  find  shelter. 


Megunticook  Turnpike. 


236  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


PARKER'* 


Mail  Stage, 

From  Wbitefawn  to  Canajobarrie. 


Common  wagons  with  narrow  tires  cut  grooves 
in  the  macadamized  road ;  so  the  Turnpike  Com 
pany  passed  free 
all  wagons  with 
tires  six  inches 
broad  or  wider. 
These  helped 
to  roll  down  the 
road,  and  by  law 
were  not  re 
quired  to  turn 
aside  on  the  road 
save  for  wagons 
with  like  width 
of  tire. 

The  New 
York  turnpikes 
were  traversed 
by  a  steady  pro 
cession  of  these 
great  wagons, 
marked  often  in 
great  lettering 
with  the  magic 
words  which 
were  in  those 
days  equivalent 
to  Eldorado  or 
Gol  c  o  n  d  a  — 
namely,"Ohio," 
or  "Genesee  Valley."  Freight  rates  from  Albany  to 
Utica  were  a  dollar  for  a  hundred  and  twelve  pounds. 


/  |  ^HE  Mail  Itawt  WbittJlQiun  en/fry 
Mondaja*d'I1)urfJtiy>at  two  tfclook 
out  proettdt  to  Old  Fort  $<£uyl<r  fa 
Jam*  <«Hning  ;  next  miming  ftarts  at  ft%er 
£chck%  mnd  arrives  at  Cantyo&arrit  in  the 
Htt*i«g  ;  exchanges  pajftnger*  <whhth(  At 
bm*ja*ilCo*t*r/l*wKjlagHt  a*J  the  next 
day  return*  to  Old  Fort  Schyybr. 

Fart  for  pajjfagtrtt  Two  Dollars  ;  «u?<yr 
t*ff**g*r**  Tour  Ptnnptr  tniU\  14/6.  bag- 
gag?  gratif  i  i$&wt.  rattd  the  fame  At  4 


Siati  nay  It  badly  apptyng  at  tbt  Poft- 
Ojpct,  Wbittjlount%  at  tht  bvufi  of  tbt  fub* 
cribr*  Old  Fort  Scbqltr,  *r  at  Captain 
Rioft,  Canajgbarrit 

JASON  PARKER. 

Auguft*  1795.  84 


From   Path  to  Turnpike  237 

In  1793  the  old  horse-path  from  Albany  over  the 
mountains  to  the  Connecticut  River  was  made  wide 
enough  for  the  passage  of  a  coach.  Westward  from 
Albany  a  coach  ran  to  Whitestone,  Oneida  County. 
In  1783  the  first  regular  mail  was  delivered  at 
Schenectady,  nearly  a  century  after  its  settlement. 
Soon  the  "  mail-stages  "  ran  as  far  as  Whitestone. 
An  advertisement  of  one  of  these  clumsy  old  mail- 
stages  is  here  shown.  We  need  not  wonder  at  the 
misspelling  in  this  advertisement  of  the  name  of 
the  town,  for  in  1792  the  Postmaster-general  adver 
tised  for  contracts  to  carry  the  mail  from  "  Con- 
nojorharrie  to  Kanandarqua." 

There  were  twelve  gates  on  the  "  pike  "  between 
Utica  and  Schenectady  ;  at  Schenectady,  Crane's  Vil 
lage,  Caughnawaga  (now  Fonda),  Schenck's  Hollow, 
east  of  Wagner's  Hollow  road,  Garoga  Creek,  St. 
Johnsville,  East  Creek  Bridge,  Fink's  Ferry,  Her- 
kimer,  Sterling,  Utica.  These  gates  did  not  swing 
on  hinges,  but  were  portcullises  ;  a  custom  in  other 
countries  referred  to  in  the  beautiful  passage  in  the 
Psalms,  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates,"  etc. 

On  every  toll-gate  was  a  board  with  the  rates  of 
toll  painted  thereon.  Mr.  Rufus  A.  Grider  gives 
the  list  of  rates  on  the  Schenectady  and  Utica  Turn 
pike,  a  distance  of  sixty-eight  miles.  They  seem  to 
me  exceedingly  high. 

Cents 

"  Sheep,  per  score          ..... 
Hogs,  per  score  ..... 

Cattle,  per  score          .          .          .          .          .18 
Horses,  per  score        .          .          .          .          .18 


23  8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Cents 

Mules,  per  score  ...  .  ,  .  18 
Horse  and  Rider  .  .  .  .  .5 
Tied  horses,  each  .....  5 

Sulkies       .          .          ,          .       .  .          .          .        12^ 

Chairs       .          .          .          .          .          .          .12^ 

Chariots    .......        25 

Coaches    .......        25 

Coachers  .......        25 

Phaetons  .          .          .          .          .          .-         .        25 

Two  horse  Stages        .          .          .        .'.'..'     12  j£ 

Four  horse  Stages        .          .          .          .'         . 

One  horse  Wagons    .  .          .       '  ..          . 

Two  horse  Wagons    .          .          .        -.          *  . 
Three  horse  Wagons  .          .          .          . 

Four  horse  Wagons  tires  under  six  inches     .        75 
Five  horse  Wagons     "         "        "        "          . 
Six  horse  Wagons        "         "        "        "          .     i.oo 
One  horse  cart  .....          6 

Two  ox  cart      .          .          .          .          •          .          6 

Three  ox  cart    .          .          .          .          ;          .    •      8 

Four  ox  cart      .          .          .          .          .        ..  .      10 

Six  ox  cart          .          .  .          .          .14 

One  horse  sleigh         .          .          .          .          ,-6 

Two  horse  or  ox  sleigh        ....          6 

Three  horse  or  ox  sleigh      ....          8 

Four  horse  or  ox  sleigh        .          .          .          .        10 

Five  horse  or  ox  sleigh         .          .          .          .12 

Six  horse  or  ox  sleigh  .          .          .          .14" 

The  toll-board  which  hung  for  many  years  on  a 
bridge  over  the  Susquehanna  River  at  Sidney,  New 
York,  is  shown  on  page  233. 

Sometimes  sign-boards  were  hung  on  bridges. 
One  is  shown  on  page  239  which  hung  for  many 


From   Path  to  Turnpike 


years  on  the  wooden  bridge  at  Washington's  Cross 
ing  at  Taylorsville,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  Bucks 
County  side.  It  was  painted  by  Benjamin  Hicks, 
of  Newtown,  a  copy  of  Trumbull's  picture  of  Wash- 


Bridge  Sign-board. 


ington  crossing  the  Delaware.  It  was  thrown  in  the 
garret  of  a  store  at  Taylorsville,  and  rescued  by  Mr. 
Mercer  for  the  Bucks  County  Historical  Society. 
The  turnpike  charters  and  toll-rates  have  revealed 
one  thing  to  us,  that  all  single-horse  carriages  were 


240  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

two-wheeled,  such  as  the  sulky,  chair,  chaise  ;  while 
four-wheeled  carriages  always  had  at  least  two 
horses. 

Citizens  and  travellers  deeply  resented  these  tolls, 
and  ofttimes  rose  up  against  the  payment.  A  toll- 
keeper  in  Pelham,  Massachusetts,  awoke  one  morn 
ing  to  find  his  gate  gone.  A  scrawled  bit  of  paper 
read  :  — 

"  The  man  who  stopped  the  boy  when  going  to  the  mill, 
Will  find  his  gate  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill." 


CHAPTER   XI 

PACKHORSE    AND    CONESTOGA    WAGON 

OUR  predecessors,  the  North  American  Ind 
ians,  had  no  horses.  An  early  explorer  of 
Virginia  said  that  if  the  country  had  horses 
and  kine  and  were  peopled  with  English,  no  realm 
in  Christendom  could  be  compared  with  it.  The 
crude  means  of  overland  transportation  common  to 
all  savages,  the  carrying  of  burdens  on  the  back  by 
various  strappings,  was  the  only  mode  known. 

Travel  by  land  in  the  colonies  was  for  many 
years  very  limited  in  amount,  and  equally  hazard 
ous  and  inconvenient.  Travel  by  boat  was  so  greatly 
preferred  that  most  of  the  settlements  continued  to 
be  made  on  the  banks  of  rivers  and  along  the  sea- 
coast.  Even  perilous  canoes  were  preferable  to  the 
miseries  of  land  travel. 

We  were  slow  in  abandoning  our  water  travel  and 
water  transportation.  Water  lines  controlled  in  the 
East  till  1800,  in  the  West  till  1860,  and  have  now 
great  revival. 

Transportation  was  wholly  done  by  water.  When 
horses  multiplied,  merchandise  was  drawn  short  dis 
tances  in  the  winter  time  on  crude  sledges.  Pack- 
horses  were  in  common  use  in  England  and  on  the 

R  24I 


242  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Continent,  and  the  scrubby,  enduring  horses  raised 
here  soon  were  used  as  packhorses.  Their  use 
lingered  long  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  as  it 
did  on  the  mountains  of  the  Pacific  coast ;  in  fact 
the  advance  guard  of  inland  commerce  in  America 
has  always  employed  packhorses. 

The  first  appearance  of  the  Conestoga  wagon  in 
history  (though  the  wagons  were  not  then  called  by 
that  name)  was  in  1755,  wnen  General  Braddock 
set  out  on  his  ill-fated  expedition  to  western  Penn 
sylvania.  There  led  thither  no  wagon-road,  simply 
an  Indian  trail  for  packhorses.  Braddock  insisted 
strenuously  to  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  upon 
obtaining  their  assistance  in  widening  the  trail  to  a 
wagon-road,  and  also  to  secure  one  hundred  and 
fifty  wagons  for  the  army.  The  cutting  of  the  road 
was  done,  but  when  returns  were  made  to  Brad- 
dock  at  Frederick,  Maryland,  only  twenty-five  wag 
ons  could  be  obtained.  Franklin  said  it  was  a  pity 
the  troops  had  not  been  landed  in  Philadelphia, 
since  every  farmer  in  the  country  thereabouts  had  a 
wagon.  At  Braddock's  earnest  solicitation,  Franklin 
issued  an  ingenious  and  characteristic  advertisement 
for  one  hundred  and  fifty  four-horse  wagons,  and 
fifteen  hundred  saddle-  or  packhorses,  for  the  use 
of  this  army.  The  value  of  transportation  facilities 
at  the  time  is  proved  by  Franklin's  terms  of  pay 
ment,  namely  :  fifteen  shillings  a  day  for  each 
wagon  with  four  horses  and  driver,  and  two  shil 
lings  a  day  for  horse  with  saddle  or  pack.  Franklin 
agreed  that  the  owners  should  be  fairly  compensated 
for  the  loss  of  these  wagons  and  horses  if  they  were 


Packhorse  and  Conestoga  Wagon          243 

not  returned,  and  was  eventually  nearly  ruined  by 
this  stipulation.  For  the  battle  at  Braddock's  Field 
was  disastrous  to  the  English,  and  the  claims  of  the 
farmers  against  Franklin  amounted  to  twenty  thou 
sand  pounds.  Upon  his  appeal  these  claims  were 
paid  by  the  Government  under  order  of  General 
Shirley.  Franklin  gathered  these  wagons  and  horses 
in  York  and  Lancaster  counties,  Pennsylvania,  and 
I  doubt  if  York  and  Lancaster,  England,  would  have 
been  as  good  fields  at  that  date. 

Braddock's  trail  became  the  famous  route  for 
crossing  the  Alleghany  Mountains  for  the  principal 
pioneers  who  settled  southwestern  Pennsylvania 
and  western  Virginia,  and  all  their  effects  were 
carried  to  their  new  homes  on  packhorses.  The 
only  wealth  acquired  in  the  wilds  by  these  pioneers 
was  peltry  and  furs,  and  each  autumn  a  caravan  of 
packhorses  was  sent  over  the  mountains  bearing 
the  accumulated  spoils  of  the  neighborhood,  under 
the  charge  of  a  master  driver  and  three  or  four 
assistants.  The  horses  were  fitted  with  pack-saddles, 
to  the  hinder  part  of  which  was  fastened  a  pair  of 
hobbles  made  of  hickory  withes  ;  and  a  collar  with  a 
bell  was  on  each  horse's  neck.  The  horses'  feed  of 
shelled  corn  was  carried  in  bags  destined  to  be  filled 
with  alum  salt  for  the  return  trip  ;  and  on  the  jour 
ney  down,  part  of  this  feed  was  deposited  for  the  use 
of  the  return  caravan.  Large  wallets  filled  with 
bread,  jerked  bear's  meat,  ham,  and  cheese  furnished 
food  for  the  drivers.  At  night  the  horses  were 
hobbled  and  turned  out  into  the  woods  or  pasture, 
and  the  bells  which  had  been  muffled  in  the  day- 


244  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

time  were  unfastened,  to  serve  as  a  guide  to  the 
drivers  in  the  morning.  The  furs  were  carried  to 
and  exchanged  first  at  Baltimore  as  a  market ;  later 
the  carriers  went  only  to  Frederick  ;  then  to  Ha- 
gerstown,  Oldtown,  and  finally  to  Fort  Cumberland. 
Iron  and  steel  in  various  forms,  and  salt,  were  the 
things  most  eagerly  desired  by  the  settlers.  Each 
horse  could  carry  two  bushels  of  alum  salt,  each 
bushel  weighing  eighty-four  pounds.  Not  a  heavy 
load,  but  the  horses  were  scantily  fed.  Sometimes 
an  iron  pot  or  kettle  was  tied  on  either  side  on  top 
of  the  salt-bag. 

Ginseng,  bears'  grease,  and  snakeroot  were  at  a 
later  date  collected  and  added  to  the  furs  and  hides. 
The  horses  marched  in  single  file  on  a  road  scarce 
two  feet  wide  ;  the  foremost  horse  was  led  by  the 
master  of  the  caravan,  and  each  successive  horse  was 
tethered  to  the  pack-saddle  of  the  one  in  front. 
Other  men  or  boys  watched  the  packs  and  urged  on 
laggard  horses. 

I  do  not  know  the  exact  mode  of  lading  these 
packhorses.  An  English  gentlewoman  named 
Celia  Fiennes  rode  on  horseback  on  a  side-saddle 
over  many  portions  of  England  in  the  year  1695. 
She  thus  describes  the  packhorses  she  saw  in  Devon 
and  Cornwall :  — 

"  Thus  harvest  is  bringing  in,  on  horse  backe,  with  sort 
of  crookes  of  wood  like  yokes  on  either  side ;  two  or  three 
on  a  side  stands  up  in  which  they  stow  ye  corne,  and  so 
tie  it  with  cords  ;  but  they  cannot  so  equally  poise  it  but 
ye  going  of  ye  horse  is  like  to  cast  it  down  sometimes  on 
ye  one  side  sometimes  on  ye  other,  for  they  load  them  from 


Packhorse  and  Conestoga   Wagon          245 

ye  neck  to  ye  taile,  and  pretty  high,  and  are  forced  to  sup 
port  it  with  their  hands  so  to  a  horse  they  have  two  people 
women  as  well  as  men." 

At  a  later  date  this  packhorse  system  became 
that  of  common  carriers.  Five  hundred  horses  at  a 
time,  after  the  Revolution,  could  be  seen  winding 
over  the  mountains.  At  Lancaster,  Harrisburg, 
Shippensburg,  Bedford,  Fort  Pitt,  and  other  towns 
were  regular  packhorse  companies.  One  public 
carrier  at  Harris  Ferry  in  1772  had  over  two  hun 
dred  horses  and  mules.  When  the  road  was  wid 
ened  and  wagons  were  introduced,  the  packhorse 
drivers  considered  it  an  invasion  of  their  rights  and 
fiercely  opposed  it. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  trail  of  the 
Indians  and  the  horse-track  of  these  men  skilled 
only  in  woodcraft  were  the  ones  followed  in  later 
years  by  trained  engineers  in  laying  out  the  turn 
pikes  and  railroads. 

We  are  prone  to  pride  ourselves  in  America  on 
many  things  which  we  had  no  part  in  producing,  on 
some  which  are  in  no  way  distinctive,  and  on  a  few 
which  are  not  in  the  highest  sense  to  our  credit. 
Of  the  Conestoga  wagon  as  a  perfect  vehicle  of 
transportation  and  as  an  important  historical  factor 
we  can  honorably  and  rightfully  be  proud.  It  was 
a  truly  American  product  evolved  and  multiplied  to 
fit,  perfectly,  existing  conditions.  Its  day  of  use 
fulness  is  past,  few  ancient  specimens  exist ;  and 
little  remains  to  remind  us  of  it ;  the  derivative 
word  stogey,  meaning  hard,  enduring,  tough,  is  a 
legacy.  Stogey s  —  shoes  —  are  tough,  coarse,  leather 


246  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

footwear ;  and  the  stogey  cigar  was  a  great,  heavy, 
coarse  cigar,  originally,  it  is  said,  a  foot  long,  made 
to  fit  the  enduring  nerves  and  appetite  of  the  Cones- 
toga  teamsters. 

This  splendid  wagon  was  developed  in  Pennsyl 
vania  by  topographical  conditions,  by  the  soft  soil, 
by  trade  requirements,  and  by  native  wit.  It  was 
the  highest. type  of  a  commodious  freight-carrier  by 
horse  power  that  this  or  any  country  has  ever 
known ;  it  was  called  the  Conestoga  wagon  from  the 
vicinity  in  which  they  were  first  in  common  use. 

These  wagons  had  a  boat-shaped  body  with  curved 
canoe-shaped  bottom  which  fitted  them  specially  for 
mountain  use  ;  for  in  them  freight  remained  firmly 
in  place  at  whatever  angle  the  body  might  be.  This 
wagon  body  was  painted  blue  or  slate-color  and  had 
bright  vermilion  red  sideboards.  The  rear  end 
could  be  lifted  from  its  sockets ;  on  it  hung  the 
feed-trough  for  the  horses.  On  one  side  of  the  body 
was  a  small  tool-chest  with  a  slanting  lid.  This 
held  hammer,  wrench,  hatchet,  pincers,  and  other 
simple  tools.  Under  the  rear  axletree  were  sus 
pended  a  tar-bucket  and  water-pail. 

In  the  interesting  and  extensive  museum  of  old- 
time  articles  of  domestic  use  gathered  intelligently 
by  the  Historical  Society  of  Bucks  County,  Penn 
sylvania,  are  preserved  some  of  the  wagon  grease- 
pots  or  Tar-lodel,  which  formed  part  of  the  furniture 
of  the  Conestoga  wagon.  A  tree  section  about  a 
foot  long  and  six  inches  in  diameter  was  bored  and 
scraped  out  to  make  a  pot.  The  outer  upper  rim 
was  circumscribed  with  a  groove,  and  fitted  with 


Packhorse  and  Conestoga  Wagon          247 

leather  thongs,  by  which  it  was  hung  to  the  axle  of 
the  wagon.  Filled  with  grease  and  tar  it  was  ever 
ready  for  use.  Often  a  leather  Tar-lodel  took  the 
place  of  this  wooden  grease-pot.  The  wheels  had 
broad  tires,  sometimes  nearly  a  foot  broad.  The 
wagon  bodies  were  arched  over  with  six  or  eight  bows, 
of  which  the  middle  ones  were  the  lowest.  These 
were  covered  with  a  strong,  pure-white  hempen  cover 
corded  down  strongly  at  the  sides  and  ends.  These 
wagons  could  be  loaded  up  to  the  top  of  the  bows 
and  carried  four  to  six  tons  each,  —  about  a  ton's 
weight  to  each  horse. 

Sleek,  powerful  horses  of  the  Conestoga  breed 
were  used  by  prosperous  teamsters.  These  horses, 
usually  from  four  to  seven  in  number,  were  often  care 
fully  matched,  all  dapple-gray  or  all  bay.  From  Balti 
more  ran  wagons  with  twelve  horses.  They  were  so 
intelligent,  so  well  cared  for,  so  perfectly  broken,  that 
they  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  their  work.  The 
heavy,  broad  harnesses  were  costly,  of  the  best 
leather,  trimmed  with  brass  plates  ;  often  each  horse 
had  a  housing  of  deerskin  or  bearskin  edged  with 
scarlet  fringe,  while  the  headstall  was  gay  with  rib 
bons  and  ivory  rings,  and  colored  worsted  rosettes. 

Bell-teams  were  common  ;  an  iron  or  brass  arch 
was  fastened  upon  the  hames,  and  collar  and  bells 
were  suspended  from  it.  Each  horse  save  the  sad 
dle-horse  had  a  full  set  of  musical  bells  tied  with 
gay  ribbons  ;  among  these  were  the  curious  old  ear- 
bells.  In  England  these  ear-bells  dangled  two  on 
each  side  on  a  strap  which  passed  over  the  horse's 
head  behind  the  ears  and  buckled  into  the  cheeks 


248  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

of  the  headstall.  On  the  forehead  stood  up  from 
this  strap  a  stiff  tuft  or  brush  (a  Russian  cockade) 
of  colored  horsehair  fixed  in  a  brass  socket.  Even 
the  reins  were  of  high  colors,  scarlet  and  orange  and 
green.  The  driver  walking  alongside,  or  seated 
astride  the  saddle-horse,  governed  the  perfectly 
broken  and  intelligent  creatures  with  a  precision 
and  ease  that  was  beautiful  to  see.  A  curious  ad 
justable  seat  called  a  lazy-board  was  sometimes 
hung  at  the  side  of  the  wagon,  and  afforded  a  preca 
rious  resting  place. 

These  teamsters  carried  a  whip,  long  and  light, 
which,  like  everything  used  by  them,  was  of  the 
finest  and  best  materials.  It  had  a  fine  squirrel- 
skin  or  silk  "cracker."  This  whip  was  carried 
under  the  arm,  and  the  Conestoga  horses  were  guided 
more  by  the  crack  than  by  the  blow. 

All  chronicles  agree  that  a  fully  equipped  Cone 
stoga  wagon  in  the  days  when  those  wagons  were  in 
their  prime  was  a  truly  pleasing  sight,  giving  one 
that  sense  of  satisfaction  which  ever  comes  from 
the  regard  of  any  object,  especially  a  piece  of 
mechanism,  which  is  perfectly  fitted  for  the  object 
it  is  designed  to  attain.  An  American  poet  writes 
of  them  :  — 

"  The  old  road  blossoms  with  romance 
Of  covered  vehicles  of  every  grade 
From  ox-cart  of  most  primitive  design 
To  Conestoga  wagons  with  their  fine 
Deep-dusted,  six-horse  teams  in  heavy  gear, 
High  hames  and  chiming  bells  —  to  childish  ear 
And  eye  entrancing  as  the  glittering  train 
Of  some  sun-smitten  pageant  of  old  Spain." 


Packhorse  and  Conestoga  Wagon          249 

The  number  of  these  wagons  was  vast.  At  one 
time  over  three  thousand  ran  constantly  back  and 
forward  between  Philadelphia  and  other  Pennsyl 
vania  towns.  Sometimes  a  hundred  would  follow 
in  close  row  ;  "  the  leaders  of  one  wagon  with  their 
noses  in  the  trough  of  the  wagon  ahead."  These 
"  Regulars  "  with  fully  equipped  Conestoga  wagons 
made  freighting  their  constant  and  only  business. 
Farmers  and  teamsters  who  made  occasional  trips, 
chiefly  during  the  farmers'  dull  season  —  the  win 
ter —  were  called  "  Militia." 

A  local  poet  wrote  of  them  :  - 

"  Militia-men  drove  narrow  treads, 
Four  horses  and  plain  red  Dutch  beds, 
And  always  carried  grub  and  feed." 

"  Grub,"  food  for  the  driver,  and  feed  for  the 
horses  was  seldom  carried  by  the  Regulars ;  but 
the  horses  when  unharnessed  always  fed  from  the 
long  troughs  which  were  hitched  to  the  wagon  pole. 
All  these  teamsters  carried  their  own  blankets, 
and  many  carried  also  a  narrow  mattress  about  two 
feet  wide  which  they  slept  upon.  This  was  strapped 
in  a  roll  in  the  morning  and  put  into  the  wagon. 
Often  the  teamsters  slept  on  the  barroom  floor 
around  the  fireplace,  feet  to  the  fire.  Some  tav 
erns  had  bunks  with  wooden  covers  around  the 
sides  of  the  room.  The  teamster  spread  his  lunch 
on  the  top  or  cover  of  his  bunk  ;  when  he  had  fin 
ished  he  could  lift  the  lid,  and  he  had  a  cofFinlike 
box  to  sleep  in  —  but  this  was  an  unusual  luxury. 
McGowan's  Tavern  was  a  favorite  stopping  place. 


250  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

The  barroom  had  a  double  chimney  and  fire 
places  ;  fifteen  feet  of  blazing  hearth  meant  com 
fort,  and  allured  all  teamsters.  The  blood  of 
battle  stained  the  walls  and  ceiling,  which  the  land 
lord  never  removed  to  show  that  he  "  meant  busi- 

» 
ness. 

The  Conestoga  wagons  were  in  constant  use  in 
times  of  war  as  well  as  in  peace.  They  were  not 
only  furnished  to  Braddock's  army,  as  has  been 
told,  but  to  the  Continental  army  in  the  War  of 
the  Revolution.  President  Reed  of  Pennsylvania 
wrote  to  General  Washington  in  1780  that  "the 
army  had  been  chiefly  supplied  with  horses  and 
waggons  from  this  state  (Pennsylvania)  during  the 
war,"  and  it  was  also  declared  that  half  the  supplies 
furnished  the  army  came  from  the  same  state. 
Reed  deplored  the  fact  that  a  further  demand  for 
over  one  thousand  teams  was  to  be  made  on  them, 
and  said  the  state  could  not  stand  it. 

During  the  War  of  1812  these  wagons  trans 
ported  arms,  ammunition,  and  supplies  to  the  army 
on  the  frontier.  Long  lines  of  these  teams  could 
be  seen  carrying  solace  and  reinforcements  to  the 
soldiers. 

In  England  a  huge,  clumsy  wagon  was  used  for 
common  carrier  and  passenger  transportation,  until 
our  own  day.  It  was  inferior  to  the  Conestoga 
wagon  in  detail  and  equipments.  Illustrations  from 
an  old  print  in  a  child's  story-book  are  given  of  these 
wagons  on  page  251.  Their  most  marked  character 
istic  was  the  width  of  wheel  tire.  From  the  middle 
colonies  the  Conestoga  wagon  found  its  way  to  every 


Packhorse  and  Conestoga  Wagon          251 


THE  STAGE  WAGGON. 

WHILE  the  old  waggoner  is  stopping  to  drink,  poor  Jack  the 
soldier  is  bidding  his  wife  good  bye. — She  has  come  a  long 
way  with  her  children  to  see  him  once  more  :  and  now  is 
going  home  again  in  the  waggon.  She  does  not  know 
whether  she  shall  ever  see  him  again. — Jack  was  obliged  to 
leave  his  country  life,  and  his  good  master,  and  his  plough 
and  his  comfortable  cottage,  and  his  poor  wife  and  little 
ones  to  go  and  be  a  soldier,  and  learn  to  fight,  because  other 
people  would  quarrel. 


252  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

« 

colony  and  every  settlement;  nor  did  its  life  end  in 
the  Eastern  states  or  with  the  establishment  of  rail 
roads.  Renamed  the  "  prairie  schooner,"  it  carried 
civilization  and  emigration  across  the  continent  to  the 
Golden  Gate.  Till  our  own  day  the  white  tilts  could 
be  seen  slowly  travelling  westward.  The  bleaching 
bones  of  these  wagons  may  be  still  seen  in  our  far 
West,  and  are  as  distinct  relics  of  that  old^  pioneer 
Western  life  as  are  the  bones  of  the  buffalo.  '•.  A  few 
wagons  still  remain  in  'Pennsylvania,  in  Lancaster 
County;  the  one  painted  by  Hovenden  in  "West 
ward  Ho  "  is  in  the  collection  of  the  Bucks  County 
Historical  Society.  One  toiled  slowly  and  painfully, 
in  the  year  1899,  up  the  green  hillsides  of  Vermont, 
bearing  two  or  three  old  people  and  a  few  shattered 
household  gods  —  the  relics,  human  and  material, 
of  a  family  that  had  "gone  West"  many  years  ago. 


CHAPTER    XII 

EARLY     STAGE-COACHES    AND     OTHER    VEHICLES 

THE  story  of  the  stage-coach  begins  at  a 
much  later  date  than  that  of  the  tavern  ; 
but  the  two  allies  reached  the  height  of 
their  glory  together.  No  more  prosperous  calling 
ever  existed  than  that  of  landlord  of  an  old-time 
stage-tavern  ;  no  greater  symbol  of  good  cheer  could 
be  afforded.  Though  a  popular  historical  novel  by 
one  of  our  popular  writers  shows  us  the  heroine  in 
a  year  of  the  seventeenth  century  conveyed  away 
from  her  New  England  home  in  a  well-equipped 
stage-coach,  there  were  no  stage-coaches  at  that  date 
in  New  England,  nor  were  they  overfrequent  in 
Old  England. 

Stow  says,  in  his  Survey  of  London  (1633): 
"  Of  old  time,  Coaches  were  not  known  in  this 
Island  but  Chariots  or  Whirlicotes."  The  whirli- 
cote  is  described  as  a  cot  or  bed  on  wheels,  a  sort 
of  wheeled  litter,  and  was  used  as  early  as  the  time 
of  Richard  II.  The  first  coach  made  in  England 
by  Walter  Rippen  was  for  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  in 
1555.  The  queen  had  one  the  next  year,  and 
Queen  Elizabeth  a  state  coach  eight  years  later 
from  the  same  maker.  That  splendid  association 

253 


254  Stage-coach  and  Tavern^  Days 

—  "  The  Company  of  Coach  and  Harness  Makers," 
was  founded  by  Charles  II.  in  May,  1667. 

Venomous  diatribes  were  set  in  print  against 
coaches,  as  is  usual  with  all  innovations,  useful  and 
otherwise.  Of  them  the  assertions  of  Taylor  the 
"  Water  Poet "  are  good  examples.  He  said  that 


English  Coach,   1747. 

coaches  dammed  the  streets,  and  aided  purse-cut 
ting  ;  that  butchers  could  not  pass  with  their 
cattle ;  that  market-folk  were  hindered  in  bringing 
victuals  to  town ;  that  carts  and  carriers  were 
stopped ;  that  milkmaids  were  flung  in  the  dirt ; 
that  people  were  "  crowded  and  shrowded  up  against 
stalls  and  stoops  "  —  still  coaches  continued  to  be 
built. 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles    255 

The  early  English  stage-coaches  were  clumsy 
machines.  One  of  the  year  1747  is  shown  on  the 
opposite  page.  With  no  windows,  no  seats  or  rail 
ing  on  top,  and  an  uncomfortable  basket  rumble 
behind,  they  seem  crude  and  inconvenient  enough 
when  compared  with  the  dashing  mail-coaches  which 
were  evolved  a  century  later,  and  were  such  a  favor 
ite  subject  with  English  painters,  engravers,  and 
lithographers  for  many  years.  Those  pictures  ex 
pressed,  as  Dickens  said,  "past  coachfulness  :  pic 
tures  of  colored  prints  of  coaches  starting,  arriving, 
changing  horses,  coaches  in  the  sunshine,  coaches  in 
the  snow,  coaches  in  the  wind,  coaches  in  the  mist 
and  rain,  coaches  in  all  circumstances  compatible 
with  their  triumph  and  victory,  but  never  in  the 
act  of  breaking  down  or  overturning." 

A  copy  of  one  of  those  prints  of  an  English  mail- 
coach,  in  the  height  of  its  career,  is  shown  opposite 
page  256. 

Stage-wagons  were  used  throughout  England  as 
a  means  of  cheaper  conveyance.  They  were  intol 
erably  slow  and  equally  clumsy.  On  page  251  a 
leaf  from  an  old-time  English  story-book  shows 
two  of  these  lumbering  vehicles,  which  ill  com 
pare  with  the  English  mail-coaches. 

Coaching  days  in  England  have  had  ample  and 
entertaining  record  in  instructive  and  reminiscent 
books,  such  as  :  Brighton  and  its  Coaches,  by  Will 
iam  C.  A.  Blew,  1894;  The  Brighton  Road,  etc.,  by 
Charles  G.  Harper,  1892;  Old  Coaching  Days,  by 
Stanley  Harris,  1882  ;  Annals  of  the  Road,  by  Cap 
tain  Malet,  1876  ;  Down  the  Road,  etc.,  by  C.  T.  S. 


256  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Birch  Reynardson,  1875  >  Coaching  Days  and  Coach 
ing  Ways,  by  W.  Outram  Tristam,  1888. 

We  have  no  similar  anecdotic  and  personal  records 
of  American  coaching  life,  though  we  have  the  two 
fine  books  of  modern  coaching  ways  entitled  Driv 
ing  for  Pleasure,  by  Francis  T.  Underbill,  and  A 
Manual  of  Coaching,  by  Fairman  Rogers,  both  most 
interesting  and  valuable. 

We  began  early  in  our  history  to  have  coaches. 
Even  Governor  Bradstreet  in  his  day  rode  in  a 
hackney  coach.  John  Winthrop,  of  Connecticut, 
had  a  private  coach  in  1685;  Sir  Edmund  Andros 
had  one  in  Boston  in  1687.  At  the  funeral  of  the 
lieutenant-governor  in  1732  in  Boston  there  were 
plenty  of  coaches,  though  there  were  few  in  New 
York ;  the  provincial  governors  usually  had  one. 
Watson,  in  \i\s-Annals  of  Philadelphia,  gives  a  list 
of  all  private  citizens  who  kept  carriages  in  that  city 
in  1761  — there  were  but  thirty-eight.  There  were 
three  coaches,  two  landaus,  eighteen  chariots,  and 
fifteen  chairs.  Eleven  years  later  only  eighty-four 
Philadelphians  had  private  carriages.  In  1794, 
when  the  city  had  a  population  of  about  fifty  thou 
sand,  eight  hundred  and  forty-seven  carriage-owners 
appear  :  among  them  were  found  thirty-three  coaches 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  coachees. 

The  testimony  of  the  traveller  Bennet,  who  was 
in  Boston  in  1740,  is  most  explicit  on  the  sub 
ject  of  travel  and  transportation  in  that  city  and 
vicinity  :  — 

"  There  are  several  families  in  Boston  that  keep  a  coach 
and  a  pair  of  horses,  and  some  few  drive  with  four  horses ; 


C> 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles    257 

but  for  chaises  and  saddle-horses,  considering  the  bulk  of 
the  place,  they  outdo  London.  They  have  some  nimble, 
lively  horses  for  the  coach,  but  not  any  of  that  beautiful 
black  breed  so  common  in  London.  Their  saddle-horses 
all  pace  naturally,  and  are  generally  counted  sure-footed  ; 
but  they  are  not  kept  in  that  fine  order  as  in  England. 
The  common  draught-horses  used  in  carts  about  the  town 
are  very  small  and  poor,  and  seldom  have  their  fill  of  any 
thing  but  labor.  The  country  carts  and  wagons  are  gen 
erally  drawn  by  oxen,  from  two  to  six  according  to  the 
distance,  or  the  burden  they  are  laden  with." 

The  traveller  Weld  thus  described  the  peculiarly 
American  carriage  called  a  "  coachee  "  :  — 

"  The  body  of  it  is  rather  longer  than  a  coach,  but  of  the 
same  shape.  In  the  front  it  is  left  quite  open  down  to  the 
bottom,  and  the  driver  sits  on  a  bench  under  the  roof  of 
the  carnage.  There  are  two  seats  in  it  for  passengers, 
who  sit  in  it  with  their  faces  to  the  horses.  The  roof  is 
supported  by  small  props  which  are  placed  at  the  corners. 
On  each  side  of  the  door,  above  the  panels,  it  is  quite 
open  ;  and,  to  guard  against  bad  weather,  there  are  curtains 
which  let  down  from  the  roof  and  fasten  to  buttons  on  the 
outside.  The  light  wagons  are  in  the  same  construction, 
and  are  calculated  to  hold  from  four  to  twelve  people. 
The  wagon  has  no  doors,  but  the  passengers  scramble  in 
the  best  way  they  can  over  the  seat  of  the  driver.  The 
wagons  are  used  universally  for  stage-coaches." 

A  vehicle  often  mentioned  by  Judge  Sewall  and 
contemporary  writers  is  a  calash.  It  was  a  clumsy 
thing,  an  open  seat  set  on  a  low  and  heavy  pair  of 
wheels.  A  curricle  had  two  horses,  a  chaise  one  ; 
both  had  what  were  called  whip  springs  behind  and 


258  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

elbow  springs  in  front.  A  whisky  was  a  light  body 
'  fixed  in  shafts  which  were  connected  with  long  hori 
zontal  springs  by  scroll  irons.  A  French  traveller 
tells  of  riding  around  Boston  in  a  whisky.  The 
chair  so  often  named  in  letters,  wills,  etc.,  was  not  a 
sedan-chair,  but  was  much  like  a  chaise  without  a  top. 

The  French  chaise  was  introduced  here  by  the 
Huguenots  before  the  year  1700.  The  Yankee 
"shay"  is  simply  the  fancied  singular  number  of 
the  French  chaise.  We  improved  upon  the  French 
vehicle,  and  finally  replaced  it  by  our  characteristic 
carriage,  the  buggy. 

Chariots  were  a  distinctly  aristocratic  vehicle, 
used  as  in  England  by  persons  of  wealth,  and 
deemed  a  great  luxury.  One  was  advertised  in 
Boston  in  1743  as  "a  very  handsome  chariot,  fit 
for  town  or  country,  lined  with  red  cofFy,  hand 
somely  carved  and  painted,  with  a  whole  front 
glass,  the  seat-cloth  embroided  with  silver,  and  a 
silk  fringe  round  the  seat."  It  was  offered  for  sale 
by  John  Lucas,  a  Boston  coach-builder,  and  had 
doubtless  been  built  by  him. 

The  ancient  chariot  shown  on  page  259,  formerly 
belonging  to  John  Brown,  the  founder  of  Brown 
University,  is  preserved  at  the  old  Occupasnetuxet 
homestead  in  Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  securely 
stored  in  one  of  the  carriage  houses  on  the  estate,  a 
highly  prized  relic  of  days  long  ago.  In  this  ancient 
vehicle  General  Washington  rode  from  place  to 
place  when  he  made  his  visit  to  Rhode  Island  in 
August,  1790,  escorted  by  John  Brown,  the  ances 
tor  of  its  present  owners. 


Early   Stage-coaches  and   Other  Vehicles     259 

The  body  of  this   old    chariot    is  suspended  on 
heavy  thorough-braces  attached  to  heavy  iron  hold 
ers  as  large  as  a  man's  wrist,  the   forward   ones  so 
curved  as  to  allow  the  forward  wheels  to  pass  under 
them,  in  order  that  the  chariot  may  be  turned  within 
a  short  compass.     It  has  but  one  seat  for  passengers, 
which  will  accommodate  two  persons  ;  and   an    ele 
vated  seat  for  the  driver,  which  is  separate  from  the 
main  body.     The  wheels  are  heavy,  the  hind  ones 
twice  the  height 
of  the  forward 
ones,  the  tires 
of    which     are 
attached  to  the 
felloes   in  sev 
eral     distinct 
pieces. 

It  is  easy  to 
picture  the 
importance  at 
tached  to  buy 
ing  or  owning  a  wheeled  vehicle  in  a  community 
which  rode  chiefly  on  horseback.  Contemporary 
evidence  of  this  is  often  found,  such  as  these  entries 
in  the  diary  of  Rev.  Joseph  Emerson  of  Maiden. 
In  the  winter  of  1735  he  writes  :- 

"Some  talk  about  my  buying  a  Shay.  How  much  rea 
son  have  I  to  watch  and  pray  and  strive  against  inordinate 
Affection  for  the  Things  of  the  World." 

A  week  later,  however,  he  proudly  recalls  the 
buying  of  the  "Shay"  for  ^27  TOJ.,'  which  must 


Washington  Chariot. 


260  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

have  made  a  decided  hole  in  his  year's  salary.  His 
delight  in  his  purchase  and  possession  is  somewhat 
marred  by  noting  that  his  parishioners  smile  as  he 
is  drawn  past  them  in  his  magnificence ;  it  is  also 
decidedly  taken  down  by  the  vehicle  being  violently 
overturned,  though  his  wife  and  he  were  uninjured. 
It  cost  a  pretty  penny,  moreover,  to  get  it  repaired. 
He  scarce  gets  the  beloved  but  sighed-over  "  Shay  " 
home  when  he  thus  notes :  — 

"  Went  to  the  beach  with  3  of  the  Children  in  my  Shay. 
The  beast  being  frighted  when  we  all  were  out  of  the  shay, 
overturned  and  broke  it.  I  desire  —  I  hope  I  desire  it  — 
that  the  Lord  would  teach  me  suitably  to  repent  this  Provi 
dence,  to  make  suitable  remarks  on  it,  and  to  be  suitably 
affected  with  it.  Have  I  done  well  to  get  me  a  Shay  ?  Have 
I  not  been  too  fond  &  too  proud  of  this  convenience  ? 
Should  I  not  be  more  in  my  study  and  less  fond  of  driving? 
Do  I  not  withold  more  than  is  meet  from  charity  ?  &c." 

Shortly  afterward,  as  the  "  beast  "  continued  to 
be  "  frighted,"  he  sold  his  horse  and  shay  to  a  fel 
low-preacher,  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  who  —  I  doubt  not 
—  went  through  the  same  elations,  depressions, 
frightings,  and  self-scourgings  in  which  the  Puritan 
spirit  and  horseman's  pride  so  strongly  clashed. 

On  May  13,  1718,  Jonathan  Wardwell's  stage 
coach  left  Jonathan  Wardwell's  Orange  Tree  in 
Boston  and  ran  to  Rhode  Island  —  that  is,  the 
island  proper.  At  any  rate,  it  was  advertised  in 
Boston  newspapers  as  starting  at  that  date.  In 
1721  there  was  a  road-wagon  over  the  same  route. 
In  1737  two  imported  stage-coaches  were  advertised 


Early   Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     261 


for  this  road,  and  doubtless  many  travellers  used 
these  coaches,  which  connected  with  the  boats  for 
New  York. 

The  early  coaching  conveyances  were  variously 
named.  In 
1767  it  was  a 
"stage-chaise" 
that  ran  be 
tween  Salem 
and  Boston, 
while  a  "stage 
coach"  and 
"stage-wagon" 
were  on  other 
short  routes 
out  of  Boston. 
In  1772  a 
"stage-char 
iot"  was  on 
the  road  be 
tween  Boston 
and  Marble- 
head.  "  Fly- 
in  g  M  ail- 
Stages  "  came 
later,  and  in 
1773  Thomas 


Beals 
"  Mail 


ran 
Stage 


Sit  any,    and   Vermont 

LINES  OF  STAGES. 

FEDERAL  LINE,  for  PHIVAPILPHI  A,  will  leave 
N£w  York  every  day  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morn 
in;,  (Sundays  excepted);  arrive*  at  Philadelphia  efr!\ 
next  iday.  Fare  of  each  paffcnger  four  dollars 

AlBAN'y  STAGES  will  leave  New  York.  ever\ 
day  ax  ten  o'clock  in  the  mornmg;  arrive,  at  AHxam 
•he  fourth  day  at  mac  o'clork  in  the  morning.  Far 
of  each  pailenger  feven  dollars, 

VERMONT  STAGES  will  leave  New  York  ever. 
Monday,  Wednefdty.  and  Friday  mornings,  at  '  eigh. 
o'clock  ;  ran  to  Bedford  the  firft  day,  the  frcond  t< 
DoVfcr,  the  ihird  to  Stockbridjre,  and  the  fourth  tr 
Bennington,  in  •  Vermont."  Alfo,  a  LI'NE  of  SJAGt,v 
will  run  fromSouih-ftft  to  Danbury,  Brookfu  d,  Nev 
Milford,  &c:io  meet  the  Vermont  Line  to  and  from 
NVv-York.  Fare  of  each  paflenger  five  cenif.  pei 
mile. 

N:  fe.  For  fata*  in.  either  of  the  »bove  Lines  of  $tag«' 
enquire  of  Wm  Vandcryoort,'  No,  3,  .Co»mlandt 
ftrcr  t,  a}rt4  of  B.  M«nyt  No  4  a,  John  (Utet,  corner  o 

be  accommodated 


with  gcotfcl  Board  and  Lodging. 

J.  D*iglaji.  Win.  -randerootn  fcf  Co. 

i, 


Carriages  between  Boston  and  Providence.'  In 
England  there  were  "  Flying-Machines"  and  "  Fly 
ing-Waggons."  An  old  English  road-bill  dated 


262  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

1774  ends  with  this  sentence,  "The  Rumsey 
Machine,  through  Winchester,  hung  on  Steel  Springs 
begins  flying  on  the  jrd  of  April  from  London  to 
Poole  in  One  Day."  On  the  Paulus  Hook  route 
to  Philadelphia  in  1772  the  proprietor  announced  a 
vehicle  "in  imitation  of  a  coach''  —  and  perhaps 
that  is  all  that  any  of  these  carriages  could  be  right 
fully  called. 

One  of  the  clearest  pictures  which  has  come 
down  to  us  of  travelling  in  the  early  years  of  our 
national  existence  is  found  in  the  pages  relating  the 
travels  of  a  young  Englishman  named  Thomas 
Twining,  in  the  United  States  in  the  year  1795. 
He  journeyed  by  "  stage-waggon  "  from  Philadel 
phia,  through  Chester  and  Wilmington,  to  Baltimore, 
then  to  Washington,  then  back  to  Philadelphia. 

He  fully  describes  the  stage-wagon  in  which  he 
made  these  journeys  :  — 

"  The  vehicle  was  a  long  car  with  four  benches.  Three 
of  these  in  the  interior  held  nine  passengers.  A  tenth  pas 
senger  was  seated  by  the  side  of  the  driver  on  the  front 
bench.  A  light  roof  was  supported  by  eight  slender  pillars, 
four  on  each  side.  Three  large  leather  curtains  suspended 
to  the  roof,  one  at  each  side  and  the  third  behind,  were 
rolled  up  or  lowered  at  the  pleasure  of  the  passengers. 
There  was  no  place  nor  space  for  luggage,  each  person 
being  expected  to  stow  his  things  as  he  could  under  his 
seat  or  legs.  The  entrance  was  in  front  over  the  driver's 
bench.  Of  course  the  three  passengers  on  the  back  seat 
were  obliged  to  crawl  across  all  the  other  benches  to  get  to 
their  places.  There  were  no  backs  to  the  benches  to  sup 
port  and  relieve  us  during  a  rough  and  fatiguing  journey 
over  a  newly  and  ill-made  road." 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     263 

Mr.  Jansen,  who  resided  in  America  from  1793 
to  1 806,  wrote  a  book  entitled  The  Stranger  in 
America.  In  it  he  described  the  coach  between 
Philadelphia  and  New  York  with  some  distinct 
ness  :  — 

"  The  vehicle,  the  American  stage-coach,  which  is  of 
like  construction  throughout  the  country,  is  calculated  to 
hold  twelve  persons,  who  sit  on  benches  placed  across  with 
their  faces  toward  the  horses.  The  front  seat  holds  three, 
one  of  whom  is  the  driver.  As  there  are  no  doors  at  the 
sides,  the  passengers  get  in  over  the  front  wheels.  The 
first  get  seats  behind  the  rest,  the  most  esteemed  seat 
because  you  can  rest  your  shaken  frame  against  the  back 
part  of  the  wagon.  Women  are  generally  indulged  with 
it ;  and  it  is  laughable  to  see  them  crawling  to  this  seat. 
If  they  have  to  be  late  they  have  to  straddle  over  the  men 
seated  further  in  front." 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  description  of  this 
coach  is  precisely  like  that  given  by  Weld  in  his 
Travels,  and  like  the  picture  of  it  in  the  latter 
book.  An  excellent  representation  of  this  stage- 
wagon  is  given  in  Mr.  Edward  Lamson  Henry's 
picture  of  the  Indian  Queen  Tavern  at  Blattens- 
burg,  Maryland,  a  copy  of  which  is  shown  fac 
ing  page  33.  Cruder  ones  may  be  seen  in  the 
various  advertisements  of  eighteenth-century  stage 
lines. 

The  coach-body  of  the  year  1818  had  an  egg- 
shaped  body  and  was  suspended  on  thick  leather 
straps,  called  thorough-braces,  which  gave  the 
vehicle  a  comparatively  easy  motion.  After  being 
worn  these  frequently  broke,  and  one  side  of  the 


264 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


coach  would  settle.  The  patient  travellers  then 
alighted,  took  a  rail  from  an  adjoining  fence, 
righted  up  the  body  of  the  coach,  and  went  on 
slowly  to  the  next  village  for  repairs. 

This  coach  had  a  foot-board  for  the  driver's  feet, 
and  a  trunk-rack  bolted  to  the  axletrees.  One 
is  here  shown,  and  an  old  cut  on  page  273.  A  few 
still  exist  and  are  in  use. 


Stage-coach  of  1818. 

Ten  years  later  the  fashion  of  coaches  had 
changed,  and  of  boats,  as  shown  by  the  cut  on  the 
opposite  page.  This  view  is  at  the  first  lock  on 
Erie  Canal  above  Albany. 

All  the  various  forms  of  coaches  were  superseded 
and  made  obsolete  by  the  incomparable  Concord 
coach,  first  built  in  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  in 
1827. 

The  story  of  the  Concord  coach  is  one  of  pro 
found  interest,  and  should  be  given  in  detail.  It 
has  justly  been  pronounced  the  only  perfect  pas 
senger  vehicle  for  travelling  that  has  ever  been 


Early   Stage-coaches  and   Other  Vehicles      265 

built.  To  every  state  and  territory  in  the  Union, 
to  every  country  in  the  world  where  there  are  roads 
on  which  such  a  coach  could  run,  have  these  Con 
cord  coaches  been  sent.  In  spite  of  steam  and 
electric  cars  they  still  are  manufactured  in  large 
numbers,  and  are  still  of  constant  use.  There  is 
really  very  little  difference  between  the  older  Con 
cord  coaches,  such  as  the  one  used  by  Buffalo  Bill, 


shown  on  page  266,  and  one  of  the  stanch,  well- 
equipped  modern  ones  used  in  mountain  travel, 
such  as  is  shown  facing  page  268. 

The  word  stage-coach  was  originally  applied  to  a 
coach  which  ran  from  station  to  station  over  a  num 
ber  of  stages  of  the  road,  usually  with  fresh  horses 
for  each  stage.  It  was  not  used  to  designate  a 
coach  which  ran  only  a  short  distance.  Mr.  Fair- 
man  Rogers  notes  as  an  example  of  the  curious 
changes  of  language  the  custom  in  New  York  of 
calling  a  short-route  omnibus  a  stage.  We  all 
recall  the  tottering  Broadway  stages  ;  we  still  have 


266 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


the  Fifth  Avenue  stages  with  us.  This  debased 
use  of  the  word  is  not  an  Americanism,  nor  is  it 
modern.  Swift  speaks  of  riding  in  the  six-penny 
stage  ;  and  Cowper  has  a  similar  usage.  The  word 
drag,  originally  applied  to  a  public  road-coach,  now 
is  used  for  a  coach  for  private  driving.  The  in 
correct  American  use  of  the  word  tally-ho,  as  a 
general  name  for  a  coach  and  four,  dates  from  1876, 
when  Colonel  Delancey  Kane  first  ran  his  road-coach 


Old  Concord  Coach. 


from  the  Brunswick  Hotel  in  New  York  to  Pelham. 
It  chanced  to  be  named  Tally-ho  after  English 
coaches  of  that  name,  and  the  word  was  adopted  from 
the  individual  to  a  class.  Barge,  as  applied  to  a 
long  omnibus,  is  apparently  a  modern  Americanism. 
I  heard  it  first  about  ten  years  ago.  Alighting  from 
the  cars,  travel-tired  and  dusty,  at  a  New  England 
coast  town  one  July  afternoon,  we  asked  the  dis 
tance  to  a  certain  hotel ;  and  we  were  told  it  was 
four  miles,  and  we  could  go  either  by  sloop  or 


Early   Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     267 

barge,  and  that  "  the  barge  got  there  first."  We 
gladly  welcomed  the  possibility  of  closing  our  jour 
ney  with  a  short,  refreshing  water  trip,  but  decided 
that  the  sloop  might  be  delayed  by  adverse  winds, 
and  we  would  trust  to  the  barge,  which  we  inferred 
was  propelled  by  steam.  On  stating  our  prefer 
ence  for  the  barge  we  were  waved  into  a  long,  heavy 
omnibus  harnessed  with  a  "  spike  "  team  of  three 
jaded  horses  that  soon  stumbled  along  the  dry  road, 
choking  us  with  the  dust  of  their  slow  progress. 
After  riding  nearly  half  an  hour  we  called  out 
despondingly  to  the  driver,  "  When  do  we  reach 
the  wharf?  "  "  We  ain't  goin'  to  the  wharf,"  he 
drawled.  "  Where  do  we  take  the  barge  then, 
and  when  ?  "  "  You're  a-ridin'  in  the  barge  now," 
he  answered,  and  thus  we  added  another  example 
to  our  philological  studies. 

Our  first  conveyance  of  goods  and  persons  was 
by  water,  and  the  word  transportation  was  one  of 
our  sea  terms  applied  to  inland  traffic.  Mr.  Ernst 
has  pointed  out  that  many  sea  terms  besides  the 
word  barge  have  received  a  land  use.  "The  con 
ductor  shouts  his  marine  c  All  aboard,'  and  railroad 
men  tell  of  f  shipping '  points  that  have  nothing  to 
do  with  navigation.  We  ship  by  rail,  and  out  West 
they  used  to  have  'prairie  schooners.'  Of  late  we 
go  by  £  trolley,'  and  that  word  is  borrowed  from  the 
sailors.  Our  locomotives  have  a  '  pilot '  each,  and 
even  c  freight '  has  a  marine  origin." 

The  first  line  of  stages  established  between  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  made  the  trip  in  about  three 
days.  The  stage  was  simply  a  Jersey  wagon  with- 


268  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

out  springs.     The  quaint  advertisement  of  the  route 
appeared  in  the  Weekly  Mercury  of  March  8,  1759  : — 

"  Philadelphia  Stage  Waggon  and  New  York  Stage  Boat 
perform  their  stages  twice  a  week.  John  Butler  with  his 
waggon  sets  out  on  Monday  from  his  house  at  the  sign  of 
the  c  Death  of  the  Fox '  in  Strawberry  Alley,  and  drives  the 
same  day  to  Trenton  Ferry,  where  Francis  Holman  meets 
him,  and  the  passengers  and  goods  being  shifted  into  the 
waggon  of  Isaac  Fitzrandolph,  he  takes  them  to  the  New 
Blazing  Star  to  Jacob  Fitzrandolph's  the  same  day,  where 
Rubin  Fitzrandolph,  with  a  boat  well  suited  will  receive 
them  and  take  them  to  New  York  that  night :  John  Butler, 
returning  to  Philadelphia  on  Tuesday  with  the  passengers 
and  goods  delivered  to  him  by  Francis  Holman,  will  set  out 
again  for  Trenton  Ferry  on  Thursday,  and  Francis  Hol 
man,  &c.,  will  carry  his  passengers  and  goods  with  the 
same  expedition  as  above  to  New  York.? 

The  driver  of  this  flying  machine,  old  Butler, 
was  an  aged  huntsman  who  kept  a  kennel  of  hounds 
till  foxes  were  shy  of  Philadelphia  streets,  when  his 
old  sporting  companions  thus  made  a  place  for 
him. 

With  such  a  magnificent  road  as  the  National 
Road,  it  was  natural  there  should  be  splendid  coach 
ing  upon  it.  At  one  time  there  were  four  lines  of 
stage-coaches  on  the  Cumberland  Road:  the  National 
Line,  Pioneer,  Good  Intent,  and  June  Bug.  Curi 
ously  enough,  no  one  can  find  out,  no  one  is  left  to 
tell,  why  or  wherefore  the  latter  absurd  and  undig 
nified  name  was  given.  An  advertisement  of  the 
"  Pioneer  Fast  Stage  Line  "  is  given  on  page  270. 
Relays  of  horses  were  made  every  ten  or  twelve 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     269 

miles.  It  was  bragged  that  horses  were  changed  ere 
the  coach  stopped  rocking.  No  heavy  luggage  was 
taken,  and  at  its  prime  but  nine  passengers  to  a 
coach.  These  were  on  what  was  called  Troy 
coaches.  The  Troy  coach  was  preceded  by  a 
heavy  coach  built  at  Cumberland,  and  carrying  six 
teen  persons,  and  a  lighter  egg-shaped  vehicle  made 
at  Trenton  ;  and  it  was  succeeded  by  the  famous 
•Concord  coach.  Often  fourteen  coaches  started  off 
together  loaded  with  passengers.  The  mail-coach 
had  a  horn;  it  left  Wheeling  at  six  in  the  morning, 
and  twenty-four  hours  later  dashed  into  Cumber 
land,  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  miles  away.  The 
mail  was  very  heavy.  Sometimes  it  took  three  to 
four  coaches  to  transport  it ;  there  often  would  be 
fourteen  lock-bags  and  seventy-two  canvas  sacks. 

The  drivers  had  vast  rivalry.  Here,  as  elsewhere 
all  over  the  country,  the  test  of  their  mettle  was  the 
delivery  of  the  President's  message.  There  was 
powerful  reason  for  this  rivalry  ;  the  letting  of  mail 
contracts  hinged  on  the  speed  of  this  special  deliv 
ery.  Dan  Gordon  claimed  he  carried  the  message 
thirty-two  miles  in  two  hours  and  twenty  minutes, 
changing  teams  three  times.  Dan  Noble  professed 
to  have  driven  from  Wheeling  to  Hagerstown,  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  miles,  in  fifteen  hours  and 
a  half. 

The  rivalry  of  drivers  and  coach-owners  extended 
to  passengers,  who  became  violent  partisans  of  the 
road  on  which  they  travelled,  and  a  threatening 
exhibition  of  bowie  knives  and  pistols  was  often 
made.  When  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 


270  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

was  completed  to  Wheeling,  these  stage-coaches  had 
their  deathblow. 


-PIONEER  fAST  STAGE  LINE 


From  CLEVELAND  to  FITTSBUBC, 

Leaves  daily  at  8  o'clock  A.  M.,  via  Bedfofdt  Hudson,  Ra 
venna,  DeerfieM,   Salem  and  New  iisount  to  WeUsville, 
where  they  will  take  the 


WEkLSVDuLB  AND  N^W  LISBON, 
Tl  FITTSBilRO* 

Through  in  30  liourn  from  Cleveland, 

'•*•*  IBeing  the  shortest  route  betw een  the  two  cities,  and  afford- 
-  4%, a  pleasant  trip  through  a  flourishing  part  of  Ohio,  on  a 
good  road,  aod  ui  better  Coaches  than  any  Hue  running  to    » 

said  place. 
The  above  line  is  cormected  with  tho 

Good  Intent  Fast  Mali  Stago,  / 

/ 

Fioficer  Fack(  t  &  ~  "  "      


whi 


Baltimore.  ,aad 

in  tho  a 


The  expense  of  travelling  in  1812  between  Phila 
delphia  and  Pittsburg,  a  distance  of  two  hundred 
and  ninety-seven  miles,  was  twenty  dollars  by  stage 
with  way-expenses  of  seven  dollars,  and  it  took  six 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     271 

days.  The  expense  by  wagon  was  five  dollars  a 
hundred  weight  for  persons  and  property,  and  the 
way-expenses  were  twelve  dollars,  for  it  took  twenty 
days. 

In  England,  in  the  prime  days  of  coaching,  rates 
were  fourpence  or  fivepence  a  mile  inside,  and  two 
pence  or  threepence  outside.  The  highest  fares  were 
of  course  on  the  mail-coaches  and  fast  day-coaches ; 
the  lower  rates  were  on  the  heavy  night-coaches. 

At  an  early  date  there  were  good  lines  of  con 
veyance  between  Boston  and  Providence,  and  from 
Providence  to  other  towns.  The  early  editions  of 
old  almanacs  tell  of  these  coaching  routes.  The 
New  England  Almanack  for  1765  gave  two  routes 
to  Hartford,  the  distances  being  given  from  tavern 
to  tavern.  The  New  England  Town  &  County 
Almanack  for  1769  announced  a  coach  between 
Providence  and  Norwich,  "a  day's  journey  only," 
and  two  coaches  a  week  between  Providence  and 
Boston,  also  performing  this  journey  in  a  day.  In 
1793,  Israel  Hatch  announced  daily  stages  between 
the  two  towns  ;  he  had  "  six  good  coaches  and  expe 
rienced  drivers,"  and  the  fare  was  but  a  dollar.  He 
closed  his  notice,  "  He  is  also  determined,  at  the 
expiration  of  the  present  contract  for  carrying  the 
mail  from  Providence  to  Boston,  to  carry  it  gratis, 
which  will  undoubtedly  prevent  any  further  under- 
biddings  of  the  Envious." 

"  The  Envious "  was  probably  Thomas  Beal, 
whose  rival  carriages  were  pronounced  "  genteel 
and  easy."  His  price  was  nine  shillings  "and  less 
if  any  other  person  will  carry  them  for  that  sum." 


272  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

When  passenger  steamboats  were  put  on  the  route 
between  Providence  and  New  York  these  lines  of 
coaches  became  truly  important.  Often  twenty  full 
coach-loads  were  carried  each  way  each  day.  The 
editor  of  the  Providence  Gazette  wrote  with  pride, 
"  We  were  rattled  from  Providence  to  Boston  in 
four  hours  and  fifty  minutes — if  any  one  wants  to 
go  faster  he  may  send  to  Kentucky  and  charter  a 
streak  of  lightning."  But  with  speed  came  increased 
fares  —  three  dollars  a  trip.  This  exorbitant  sum 
soon  produced  a  rival  cheaper  line  —  at  two  dollars 
and  a  half  a  ticket.  The  others  then  lowered  to 
two  dollars,  and  the  two  lines  alternated  in  reduc 
tion  till  the  conquered  old  line  announced  it  would 
carry  the  first  booked  applicants  for  nothing.  The 
new  stage  line  then  advertised  that  they  would  carry 
patrons  free  of  expense,  and  furnish  a  dinner  at  the 
end  of  the  journey.  The  old  line  was  rich  and 
added  a  bottle  of  wine  to  a  like  offer. 

Mr.  Shaffer,  a  fashionable  teacher  of  dancing  and 
deportment  in  Boston,  an  arbiter  in  social  life,  and 
man  about  town,  had  a  gay  ride  on  Monday  to 
Providence,  a. good  dinner,  and  the  promised  bottle 
of  wine.  On  Tuesday  he  rode  more  gayly  back  to 
Boston,  had  his  dinner  and  wine,  and  on  Wednesday 
started  to  Providence  again.  With  a  crowd  of  gay 
young  sparks  this  frolic  continued  till  Saturday,  when 
the  rival  coach  lines  compromised  and  signed  a  con 
tract  to  charge  thereafter  two  dollars  a  trip. 

In  1818  all  the  lines  in  eastern  Massachusetts 
and  New  Hampshire,  and  others  in  Maine  and 
Rhode  Island,  were  formed  into  a  syndicate,  the 


Early   Stage-coaches  and   Otner   Vehicles      273 

Eastern  Stage  Company  yand  it  had  an  unusual 
career.  The  capital  stock  consisted  of  four  hundred 
and  twenty-five  shares  at  a  hundred  dollars  each. 
Curiously  enough,  the  contracts  and  agreements 
signed  at  the  time  of  the  union  do  not  ever  mention 
its  object ;  it  might  be  a  sewing-machine  company, 
or  an  oil  or  ice  trust.  It  had  at  once  an  enormous 
business,  for  it  was  born  great.  The  profits  were 
likewise  enormous ;  the  directors'  meetings  were 
symposiums  of  satisfaction,  and  stockholders  gloated 


NEW  OMNIBUS 

New  Omnibus  "Accommodation." 

over  their  incomes.  In  1829  there  were  seventy- 
seven  stage-coach  lines  from  Boston ;  the  fare  to 
Albany  (about  two  hundred  miles)  was  six  dol 
lars,  and  eight  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents  by 
the  "  Mail  Line."  The  fare  to  Worcester  was  two 
dollars  ;  to  Portland,  eight  dollars  ;  to  Providence, 
two  dollars  and  a  half.  In  1832  there  were  one 
hundred  and  six  coach  lines  from  Boston.XThe  Bos 
ton  Traveller  was  started  as  a  stage-coach  paper  in 
1825,  whence  its  name.  Time-tables  and  stage- 
lists  were  issued  by  Badger  and  Porter  from  1825 


274  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

to  1836.  After  twelve  years,  the  Eastern  Stage 
Company  was  incorporated  in  New  Hampshire,  but 
even  then  luck  was  turning.  There  was  no  one 
shrewd  enough  to  heed  the  warning  which  might 
have  been  heard  through  the  land,  "  Look  out  for  the 
engine,"  and  soon  the  assets  of  the  stage  company 
were  as  dust  and  ashes  ;  everything  was  sold  out  at 
vast  loss,  and  in  1838 — merely  a  score  of  years, 
not  even  "  come  of  age  "  — the  Eastern  Stage  Com 
pany  ceased  to  exist.  On  its  prosperous  routes, 
during  the  first  ten  years,  myriads  of  taverns  had 
sprung  up  ;  vast  brick  stables  had  been  built  for  the 
hundreds  of  horses,  scores  of  blacksmiths'  forges 
had  been  set  up,  and  some  of  these  shops  were  very 
large.  These  buildings  were  closed  as  suddenly  as 
they  were  built,  and  rotted  unused. 

This  period  of  the  brilliant  existence  of  the  East 
ern  Stage  Company  was  also  the  date  of  the  coach 
ing  age  of  England,  given  by  Stanley  Harris  as  from 
1820  to  1840.  The  year  1836,  which  saw  the  pub 
lication  of  Pickwick,  wherein  is  so  fine  a  picture  of 
old  coaching  days,  was  the  culminating  point  of  the 
mail-coach  system.  Just  as  it  was  perfected  it  was 
rendered  useless  by  the  railroad. 

In  the  earliest  colonial  days,  before  the  official 
appointment  of  any  regular  post-rider,  letters  were 
carried  along  the  coast  or  to  the  few  inland  towns 
by  chance  travellers  or  by  butchers  who  made  fre 
quent  trips  to  buy  and  sell  cattle.  John  Winthrop, 
of  New  London,  sent  letters  by  these  butcher 
carriers. 

In  1672  "  Indian  posts  "  carried  the  Albany  winter 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     275 

mail.  With  a  retrospective  shiver  we  read  a  notice  of 
1730  that "  whoever  inclines  to  perform  the  foot-post 
to  Albany  this  winter  may  make  application  to  the 
Post- Master."  Lonely  must  have  been  his  solitary 
journey  up  the  solemn  river,  skating  along  under 
old  Cro'  Nest. 

The  first  regular  mounted  post  from  New  York 
to  Boston  started  January  i,  1673.  He  had  two 
"  port-mantles  "  which  were  crammed  with  letters, 
"small  portable  goods  and  divers  bags."  It  was 
enjoined  that  he  must  be  active,  stout,  indefatigable, 
and  honest.  He  changed  horses  at  Hartford.  He 
was  ordered  to  keep  an  eye  out  for  the  best  roads, 
best  ways  through  forests,  for  ferries,  fords,  etc.,  to 
watch  keenly  for  all  fugitive  servants  and  deserters, 
and  to  be  kind  to  all  persons  travelling  in  his  com 
pany.  During  the  month  that  he  was  gone  the 
mail  was  collected  in  a  box  in  the  office  of  the  Colo 
nial  Secretary.  The  arrivals  and  departure  of  these 
posts  were  very  irregular.  In  1704  we  read,  "Our 
Philadelphia  post  (to  New  York)  is  a  week  behind, 
and  not  yet  com'd  in." 

In  unusual  or  violent  weather  the  slowness  of 
mail  carriage  was  appalling.  Salem  and  Ports 
mouth  are  about  forty  miles  apart.  In  March, 
1716,  the  "post"  took  nine  days  for  one  trip 
between  the  two  towns  and  eight  days  the  other. 
He  was  on  snowshoes,  and  he  reported  drifts  from 
six  to  fourteen  feet  deep ;  but  even  so,  four  to  five 
miles  a  day  was  rather  minute  progress. 

It  is  pleasant  to  read  in  the  Wintbrop  Letters  and 
other  correspondence  of  colonial  days  of  "journeys 


276  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


with  the    Post/'      Madam  Knight  rode   with   him, 
as    did    many  another    fair    traveller  with  his  suc- 


NEWB!    NEWS! 


AARON  OLIVER,  Poft-Rider, 

TT7ISHES  to  inform  the  Publick, 
*  »  that  he  has  extended  his  Route; 
and  that  he  now  rides  thro*  the 
Towns  of  Troy,  Pittjlown,  Hoojick, 
Mapletown,  Part  of  Bennington,  and 
Sbaftjbury,  Peterjburgb,  Stephen- 
town,  Greenbujb  and  Scbodack. 

All  Commands  in  his  Line  will  be 
received  with  Thanks,  and  executed 
with  Punctuality. 

He  returns  his  fmcere  Thanks  to 
his  former  Cuftomers  ;  and  intends, 
by  unabated  Diligence,  to  merit  a 
Continuance  of  their  Favours. 

O'er  ruggid  hills^  and  •vallles  ivide^ 
He  never  yet  has  fair  d  to  trudge  iff 

As  fleady  as  the  flowing  tidet 

He  hands  about  the  NORTHERN  BUDGET. 


cessors  at  later  dates. 
A  fragment  of  a  jour 
nal  of  a  young  college 
graduate,  written  in  j/ 
1790,  tells  of  "over 
taking  the  Post,  who 
rode  with  six  Dames, 
neither  young  nor  fair, 
from  Hartford  to  Bos 
ton."  He  tells  that 
the  patient  Squire  of 
Dames  was  rather  surly 
when  joked  about  his 
harem.  Mrs.  Quincy 
tells  of  travelling,  when 
she  was  a  little  girl, 
with  the  Post,  who 
occupied  his  monoto 
nous  hours  by  stock 
ing-knitting. 

The  post-riders, 
whose  advertisements 
(one  of  which  is  here 
shown)  can  be  found 
in  many  old-time 


newspapers,    were    pn- 

June  18,  1799.  vate   carriers.       They 

"Resolv'd  to  ride  Post 

for    the  good   of  the  Publick,"    etc.       They  were 
burdened  by  law  with  restrictions,  which  they  calmly 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other 


evaded,  for  they  materially  decreased  the  government 
revenue  in  sealed  mail-matter,  though  they  were 
supposed  to  be  merchandise  carriers  only. 

In  1773,  Hugh  Finlay  was  made  postal  surveyor 
by  the  British  government  of  the  mail  service  from 
Quebec,  Canada,  to  St.  Augustine,  Florida.  He 
made  a  very  unfavorable  report  of  postal  condi 
tions.  He  declared  that  postmasters  often  had  no 
offices,  that  tavern  taprooms  and  family  rooms  in 
private  houses  were  used  as  gathering  places  for  the 
mail.  Letters  were  thrown  carelessly  on  an  open 
table  or  tavern  bar,  for  all  comers  to  pull  over  till 
the  owners  called  ;  and  fresh  letters  were  irregularly 
forwarded.  The  postmaster's  salary  was  paid  ac 
cording  to  the  number  of  letters  he  handled,  and  of 
course  the  private  conveyance  of  letters  sadly  dimin 
ished  his  income.  Private  mail-carriage  was  forbid 
den  by  law,  but  the  very  government  post-riders 
were  the  chief  offenders.  Persons  were  allowed  to 
carry  merchandise  at  their  own  rates  for  their  own 
profit,  so  post-riders,  wagon-drivers,  butchers,  ship 
captains,  or  any  one  could  carry  large  sealed  let 
ters,  provided  they  were  tied  to  any  bundle  or  box. 
Sham  bundles  of  paper  or  straw,  weighing  little,  were 
thus  used  as  kite-tails  to  the  letters.  The  govern 
ment  post-rider  between  Newport  and  Boston  took 
twenty-six  hours  to  go  eighty  miles,  carried  all 
way-letters  to  his  own  profit,  and  bought  and  sold 
on  commission.  If  he  had  been  complained  of,  the 
informer  was  in  danger  of  tarring  and  feathering. 
It  was  deemed  all  a  part  of  the  revolt  of  the  provinces 
against  "  slavery  and  oppression."  The  rider  between 


278  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Saybrook  and  New  York  had  been  in  his  calling 
forty-six  years.  He  carried  on  a  money  exchange  to 
his  own  profit,  and  pocketed  all  way-postage.  He 
superintended  the  return  of  horses  for  travellers ; 
and  Finlay  says  he  was  coolly  waiting,  when  he  saw 
him,  for  a  yoke  of  oxen  that  he  was  going  to  trans 
fer  for  a  customer.  No  wonder  the  mails  were  slow 
and  uncertain. 

^In  1788  it  took  four  days  for  mail  to  go  from 
New  York  to  Boston  —  in  winter  much  longer. 
George  Washington  died  on  the  I4th  of  December, 
1799.  As  an  event  of  universal  interest  through 
out  the  nation,  the  news  was  doubtless  conveyed 
with  all  speed  possible  by  fleetest  messenger.  The 
knowledge  of  this  national  loss  was  not  known  in 
Boston  till  December  24.  Two  years  later  there 
was  a  state  election  in  Massachusetts  of  most  pro 
found  interest,  when  party  feeling  ran  high.  It  took 
a  month,  however,  to  get  in  all  the  election  returns, 
even  in  a  single  state. 

The  first  advertisement  or  bill  of  the  first  coach 
ing  line  between  Boston  and  Portsmouth  reads 
thus : — 

u  For  the  Encouragement  of  Trade  from  Portsmouth  to  Boston. 
"  A  LARGE  STAGE  CHAIR,    . 

With  two  horses  well  equipped,  will  be  ready  by  Monday 
the  20th  inst.  to  start  out  from  Mr.  Stavers,  Inn-holder  at 
the  sign  of  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  in  this  town  for  Boston,  to 
perform  once  a  week ;  to  lodge  at  Ipswich  the  same  night ; 
from  thence  through  Medford  to  Charlestown  Ferry ;  to  tarry 
at  Charlestown  till  Thursday  morning,  so  as  to  return  to  this 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     279 

town  next  day:  to  set  out  again  the  Monday  following-. 
It  will  be  contrived  to  carry  four  persons  besides  the  driver. 
Tn  case  only  two  persons  go,  they  may  be  accommodated 
to  carry  things  of  bulk  and  value  to  make  a  third  or  fourth 
person.  The  Price  will  be  Thirteen  Shillings  and  Six  Pence 
sterling  for  each  person  from  hence  to  Boston,  and  at  the 
same  rate  of  conveyance  back  again ;  though  under  no 
obligation  to  return  in  the  same  week  in  the  same  manner. 

u  Those  who  would  not  be  disappointed  must  enter  their 
names  at  Mr.  Stavers'  on  Saturdays,  any  time  before  nine 
in  the  evening,  and  pay  one  half  at  entrance,  the  remainder 
at  the  end  of  the  journey.  Any  gentleman  may  have  busi 
ness  transacted  at  Newbury  or  Boston  with  fidelity  and 
despatch  on  reasonable  terms. 

"  As  gentlemen  and  ladies  are  often  at  a  loss  for  good 
accommodations  for  travelling  from  hence,  and  can't  return 
in  less  than  three  weeks  or  a  month,  it  is  hoped  that  this 
undertaking  will  meet  with  suitable  encouragement,  as  they 
will  be  wholly  freed  from  the  care  and  charge  of  keeping 
chairs  and  horses,  or  returning  them  before  they  had 
Finished  their  business. 

"  Portsmouth,  April,  1761." 

A  picture  and  account  of  the  Stavers  Inn  are 
given  on  page  176. 

These  stages  ran  throughout  the  winter,  except  in 
bad  weather,  and  the  fare  was  then  three  dollars  a  trip. 
This  winter  trip  was  often  a  hard  one.  We  read  at 
one  time  of  the  ferries  being  so  frozen  over  that 
travellers  had  to  make  a  hundred-mile  circuit  round 
by  Cambridge.  This  line  of  stages  prospered  ;  and 
two  years  later  "  The  Portsmouth  Flying  Stage 
coach,"  which  held  six  "  insides,"  ran  with  four  or 
six  horses.  The  fare  was  the  same. 


280 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


v 


On  this  Stavers  line  were  placed  the  first  mail- 
coaches  under  the  English  crown.  When  Finlay 
(the  post-office  surveyor  just  referred  to)  examined 
the  mail-service  in  the  year  1773,  he  found  these 
mail-coaches  running  between  Boston  and  Ports 
mouth.  Mr.  Ernst  says,  cc  The  Stavers  mail- 
coach  was  stunning,  used  six  horses  in  bad  weather, 


Old  Coach  and  Sign-board,  Barre,  Massachusetts. 

and  never  was  late."  These  coaches  were  built  by 
Paddock,  the  Boston  coach-builder  and  Tory. 
Stavers  also  was  a  Tory,  and  during  the  Revolution 
both  fled  to  England,  and  may  have  carried  the 
notion  of  the  mail-coach  across  the  sea.  At  any  rate 
the  first  English  mail-coach  was  not  put  on  the  road 
till  1784;  it  ran  between  Bristol  and  London.  It 
was  started  by  a  theatrical  manager  named  Palmer, 
who  had  had  no  practical  knowledge  either  of  post- 


Early  Stage -coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     281 

office  work  or  coaching.  The  service  was  very 
imperfect  and  far  from  speedy. 

Herbert  Joyce,  historian  of  the  British  post- 
office,  says,  "In  1813  there  was  not  a  single  town 
in  the  British  kingdom  at  the  post-office  of  which 
absolutely  certain  information  could  have  been  ob 
tained  as  to  the  charge  to  which  a  letter  addressed 
to  any  other  town  would  be  subject."  The  charge 
was  regulated  by  the  distance  ;  but  distances  seemed 
movable,  and  the  letter-sender  was  wholly  at  the 
mercy  of  the  postmaster.  The  government  of 
the  United  States  early  saw  the  injustice  of  doubt 
in  these  matters,  and  Congress  ordered  a  careful 
topographical  survey,  in  1811— 12,  of  the  post- 
road  from  Passamaquoddy  to  St.  Mary's,  and  also 
established  our  peerless  corps  of  topographical  engi 
neers.  Foreigners  were  much  impressed  with  the 
value  of  this  survey,  and  an  old  handkerchief, 
printed  in  1815  by  R.  Gillespie,  at  "  Anderston 
Printfield  near  Glasgow,"  proves  that  the  practical 
effects  of  the  survey  were  known  in  England  before 
the  English  people  had  a  similar  service. 

This  handkerchief  gives  an  interesting  statement 
of  postal  rates  and  routes  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century.  Around  the  edge  is  a  floral  border,  with 
the  arms  of  the  United  States,  the  front  and  reverse 
of  the  dollar  of  1815,  a  quartette  of  ships  of  war, 
and  portraits  of  Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  and 
"  Maddison  "  intertwined. 

Its  title  is  "A  Geographical  View  of  All  the  Post 
Towns  in  the  United  States  of  America  and  Their 
Distance  from  Each  Other  According  to  the  Estab- 


282  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

lishment  of  the  Postmaster  General  in  the  Year 
1815."  By  an  ingenious  arrangement  of  the  towns 
on  the  main  coast  line  and  those  on  the  cross  post- 
roads,  the  distance  from  one  of  these  points  to  any 
other  could  easily  be  ascertained.  The  "main  line 
of  post  towns  "  extended  "  from  Passamaquoddy  in 
the  District  of  Maine  to  Sunbury  in  the  State  of 
Georgia." 

The  object  in  publishing  such  a  table  as  this  was 
to  make  a  durable  record  by  which  it  was  possible 
for  the  people  to  compute  easily  and  with  a  handy 
helper  what  the  cost  of  postage  on  letters  would  be. 
The  following  "  rates  of  postage  "  are  given  on  the 
old  handkerchief:  — 

u  Single  Letter  conveyed  by  land  for  any  distance  not 
exceeding  10  miles,  6  cents. 

Over     10,  not  exceeding     60  miles,     8  cents. 
"       60    "  "  100     "       10      " 

"  100  u  "  150  "  12  " 

"  150  "  "  200  "  15  " 

"  2OO  "  "  250  "  17  " 

"  250  "  "  350  "  2O  " 

"  350  "  "  450  "  22  " 

For         450  "       25      "" 

Double  letters  are  charged  double ;  and  triple 
letters,  three  times  these  rates,  and  a  packet  weigh 
ing  one  ounce  avoirdupois  at  the  rate  of  four  single 
letters. 

Let  us  compare  conditions  in  these  matters  in 
America  with  those  in  Scotland.  While  England 
had,  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 


Eariy  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     283 

coaches  in  enough  number  that  country  folk  knew 
what  they  looked  like,  Scotland  was  barren  not  only 
of  coaches  but  of  carriages.  In  1720  there  were  no 
chariots  or  chaises  north  of  the  Tay.  Not  till  1749 
was  there  a  coach  between  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow ; 
this  journey  of  forty-six  miles  could,  by  the  end  of 
the  century,  be  done  in  twelve  hours.  In  1754 
there  was  once  a  month  a  coach  from  Edinburgh  to 
London  ;  it  took  twelve  to  sixteen  days  to  accom 
plish  this  journey,  and  was  so  perilous  that  travellers 
made  their  wills  before  setting  out.  There  were 
few  carts  and  no  such  splendid  wagons  as  our  Cones- 
togas.  Cadgers  carried  creels  of  goods  on  horse 
back  ;  and  sledges,  or  creels  borne  on  the  backs  of 
women,  were  the  means  of  transportation  in  north 
ern  Scotland  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury.  These  sledges  had  tumbling  wheels  of  solid 
wood  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter,  revolving  with 
the  wooden  axletree,  and  held  little  more  than  a 
wheelbarrow. 

Scotch  inns  were  as  bad  as  the  roads ;  "  mean 
hovels  with  dirty  rooms,  dirty  food,  dirty  attend 
ants."  Servants  without  shoes  or  stockings,  greasy 
tables  with  no  cloths,  butter  thick  with  cows'  hairs, 
no  knives  and  forks,  a  single  drinking-cup  for  all  at 
the  table,  filthy  smells  and  sights,  were  universal ; 
and  this  when  English  inns  were  the  pleasantest 
places  on  earth. 

Mail-carriage  was  even  worse  than  personal  trans 
portation  ;  hence  letter-writing  was  not  .popular. 
In  1746  the  London  mail-bag  once  carried  but  a 
single  letter  from  Edinburgh.  So  little  attention 


284  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

was  paid  to  the  post  that  as  late  as  1728  the  letters 
were  sometimes  not  taken  from  the  mail  bag,  and 
were  brought  back  to  their  original  starting  place. 
Scotland  was  in  a  miserable  state  of  isolation  and 
gloom  until  the  Turnpike  Road  Act  was  passed  ;  the 
building  of  good  roads  made  a  complete  revolution  of 
all  economic  conditions  there,  as  it  has  everywhere. 
The  first  railway  in  America  was  the  Quincy 
Railroad,  or  the  "Experiment"  Railroad,  built  to 

carry  stones  to   Bunker 

Hill  Monument.  A 
tavern-pitcher,  com 
memorative  of  this 
Quincy  road,  is  shown 
here.  Two  views  of 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
Railroad,  printed  on 
plates  and  platters  in 
rich  dark  blue,  are  fa 
miliar  to  china  collec 
tors.  One  shows  a  sta- 
Raiiway  Pitcher.  tionary  engine  at  the  top 

of  a  hill  with  a  number 
of  little  freight  cars  at  a  very  singular  angle  going 
down  a  steep  grade.  The  other  displays  a  primitive 
locomotive  with  coachlike  passenger  cars. 

All  the  first  rail-cars  were  run  by  horse-power. 
Peter  Parley's   First  Book  on  History  says,  in  the 
chapter  on  Maryland:  — 

u  The  people  are  building  what  is  called  a  railroad. 
This  consists  of  iron  bars  laid  down  along  the  ground  and 
made  fast,  so  that  carriages  with  small  wheels  may  run 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     285 

upon  them  with  facility.  In  this  way  one  horse  will  be 
able  to  draw  as  much  as  ten  horses  on  a  common  road. 
A  part  of  the  railroad  is  already  done,  and  if  you  choose 
to  take  a  ride  upon  it  you  can  do  so.  You  enter  a  car 
something  like  a  stage,  and  then  you  will  be  drawn  along 
by  two  horses  at  a  speed  of  twelve  miles  per  hour." 

The  horse-car  system,  in  its  perfection,  did  not 
prevail  until  many  years  after  the  establishment  of 
steam  cars.  It  is  curious  to  note  how  suddenly,  in 
our  own  day,  the  horse  cars  were  banished  by  cars 
run  by  electricity  ;  as  speedily  as  were  stage-coaches 
cast  aside  by  steam.  A  short  time  ago  a  little  child  of 
eight  years  came  running  to  me  in  much  excitement 
over  an  unusual  sight  she  had  seen  in  a  visit  to 
a  small  town  — "  a  trolley  car  dragged  by  horses." 

Many  strange  plans  were  advanced  for  the  new 
railways.  I  have  seen  a  wood-cut  of  a  railway- 
coach  rigged  with  masts  and  sails  gayly  running  on 
a.  track.  I  don't  know  whether  the  inventor  of  this 
wind-car  ever  rigged  his  car-boat  and  tried  to  run 
it.  Another  much-derided  suggestion  was  that  the 
motive  power  should  be  a  long  rope  or  chain,  and 
the  notion  was  scorned,  but  we  have  lived  to  see 
many  successful  lines  of  cars  run  by  cable 

Kites  and  balloons  also  were  seriously  suggested 
as  motive  powers.  It  was  believed  that  in  a  short 
time  any  person  would  be  permitted  to  run  his  own 
private  car  or  carriage  over  the  tracks,  by  paying 
toll,  as  a  coach  did  on  a  turnpike. 

The  body  of  the  stage-coach  furnished  the  model 
for  the  first  passenger  cars  on  the  railway.  A  copy 
is  here  given  of  an  old  print  of  a  train  on  the  Veazie 


286  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Railroad,  which  began  to  run  from  Bangor,  Maine, 
in  1836.  The  road  had  two  locomotives  of  Steven 
son's  make  from  England.  They  had  no  cabs  when 
they  arrived  here,  but  rude  ones  were  attached.  They 
burned  wood.  The  cars  were  also  English ;  a  box 
resembling  a  stage-coach  was  placed  on  a  rude  plat 
form.  Each  coach  carried  eight  people.  The  pas 
sengers  entered  the  side.  The  train-ran  about  twelve 
miles  in  forty  minutes.  The  rails,  like  those  of 


Veazie  Railway. 


other  railroads  at  the  time,  were  of  strap-iron  spiked 
down.  These  spikes  soon  rattled  loose,  so  each 
engine  carried  a  man  with  a  sledge  hammer,  who 
watched  the  track,  and  when  he  spied  a  spike  stick 
ing  up  he  would  reach  down  and  drive  it  home. 
These  "  snake  heads,"  as  the  rolled-up  ends  of  the 
strap-iron  were  called,  sometimes  were  forced  up 
through  the  cars  and  did  great  damage.  "  Snake 
heads  "  were  as  common  in  railway  travel  as  snags 
in  the  river  in  early  steamboating. 


Early  Stage-coaches  and  Other  Vehicles     287 

The  Boston  and  Lowell,  Boston  and  Providence, 
and  Boston  and  Worcester  railroads  were  all  opened 
in  1835.  The  locomotive  used  on  the  Boston  and 
Worcester  road  was  called  the  Meteor.  The  cars 
were  coach-shaped  and  ran  on  single  trucks.  The 
freight  cars  were  short  vans  or  wagon-bodies  cov 
ered  with  canvas  like  a  Conestoga  wagon.  A  pic 
turesque  view  of  an  old  railway  train  is  given  oppo 
site  page  288  in  the  picture  painted  by  Mr.  Edward 
Lamson  Henry,  called  "The  Arrival  of  the  Train." 
It  shows  a  train  at  a  way  station  between  Harris- 
burg  and  Lancaster,  in  the  year  1839,  and  a  com 
parison  between  the  coaches  on  the  track  and  the 
coach  and  horses  waiting  near  by  will  show  that  the 
same  model  served  for  both. 

Accidents  were  many  on  these  early  roads  ;  some 
were  fatal,  some  were  ridiculous.  The  clumsy  loco 
motive  often  broke  down,  and  horses  and  oxen  had 
to  be  impressed  to  drag  the  cars  to  the  nearest 
'station  and  repair  shop.  An  old  print  showing 
"  Uncle  Ame  Morris's  "  oxen  serving  as  a  locomo 
tive  on  a  railroad  near  Danbury,  Connecticut,  is 
given  on  page  289.  Coaching  accidents  had  seldom 
been  fatal,  and  ancient  citizens  were  appalled  at  the 
deaths  on  the  rail.  Never  was  the  cry  of  "the  good 
old  times  "  so  loudly  heard  as  in  the  early  days  of  the 
railroad.  Especially  were  the  injuries  by  escaping 
steam  and  by  communicated  fire  deemed  horrible 
and  unbearable.  An  old-school  blood  thus  sum 
marized  all  these  sentiments  :  "  You  got  upset  in  a 
coach  —  and  there  you  were  !  You  get  upset  in  a 
rail-car  —  and,  damme,  where  are  you  ?  " 


288  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

The  roadbed  of  the  track  was  laid  thus,  as 
shown  in  the  words  of  a  State  Report  made  to  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature  on  January  16,  1829:  — 

"  A  continuous  stone  wall,  laid  so  deep  in  the 
ground  as  not  to  be  moved  by  the  effects  of  the 
frost ;  and  surmounted  by  a  rail  of  split  granite  about 
a  foot  in  thickness  and  depth,  with  a  bar  of  iron 
on  top  of  it  of  sufficient  thickness  for  the  carriage 
wheels  to  run." 

My  father,  who  rode  on  one  of  these  rock-bedded 
railways,  told  me  that  the  jarring  was  inexpressibly 
tiring  and  even  distressing.  They  were  in  use  but 
a  short  time.  But  the  cars  had  no  springs,  and  the 
jarring  continued  to  some  degree.  It  produced 
headaches  and  an  incessant  itching  of  the  skin. 
The  primitive  brake-power  was  a  hand  or  foot  brake, 
and  a  car  stopped  with  a  jolting  which  was  almost 
as  severe  as  the  shock  felt  to-day  in  a  collision.  A 
more  primitive  brake-power  was  in  vogue  on  the 
Newcastle  and  Frenchtown  Railroad,  where  the 
engineer  would  open  his  safety  valve  at  each  station 
and  several  strong  negroes  would  seize  the  end  of 
the  train  and  hold  it- back  while  the  station  agent 
thrust  sticks  of  wood  through  the  wheel-spokes. 
Crooked  roads  were  favored,  so  the  engineer  and 
conductor  could  "  look  back  and  see  if  the  train  was 
all  right."  These  were  easily  managed  with  the 
short  coach-like  railway  carriages. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  repeat  all  the  objec 
tions  against  the  establishment  of  the  railroads, 
besides  the  loss  of  life.  These  objections  far  out 
numbered  those  made  against  coaches  centuries  pre- 


Early  Stage-coaches  and   Other  Vehicles     289 

vious.  The  farmers  would  be  ruined.  Horses 
would  have  to  be  killed  because  wholly  useless. 
There  would  therefore  be  no  market  for  oats  or 
hay.  Hens  would  not  lay  eggs  on  account  of  the 
noise.  It  would  cause  insanity.  There  would  be 
constant  fires  from  the  sparks  from  the  engine.  It 


Uncle  Ame  Morris'  Oxen  serving-  as  a  Locomotive. 

was  declared  that  no  car  could  ever  advance  against 
the  wind.  The  Boston  Courier  of  June  27,  1827, 
said  in  an  editorial :  — 

"The  project  of  a  railroad  from  Boston  to  Albany  is 
impracticable,  as  every  one  knows  who  knows  the  simplest 
rule  of  arithmetic,  and  the  expense  would  be  little  less 
than  the  market  value  of  the  whole  territory  of  Massachu 
setts  ;  and  which,  if  practicable,  every  person  of  common 
sense  knows  would  be  as  useless  as  a  railroad  from  Boston 
to  the  moon." 


290  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Captain  Basil  Hall  rode  by  stage-coach  in  1829 
over  the  present  route  of  the  Boston  and  Albany 
Railroad.  He  described  the  hills,  ravines,  and  rivers, 
and  said,  "  Those  Yankees  talk  of  constructing  a 
railroad  over  this  route  ;  as  a  practical  engineer,  I 
pronounce  it  simply  impossible." 

All  the  sentimental  objections  of  all  the  senti 
mental  objectors  may  be  summed  up  in  the  words 
of  the  best  beloved  of  all  coachmen,  Tony  Weller  :  — 

"  I  consider  that  the  rail  is  unconstitutional,  and  a  in- 
wader  o'  privileges.  As  to  the  comfort  —  as  an  old  coach 
man  I  may  say  it  —  veres  the  comfort  o'  sitting  in  a 
harm-chair,  a  lookin'  at  brick  walls,  and  heaps  o'  mud, 
never  comin'  to  a  public  'ouse,  never  seein'  a  glass  o'  ale, 
never  goin'  thro'  a  pike,  never  meetin'  a  change  o'  no 
kind  (hosses  or  otherwise)  but  always  comin'  to  a  place 
ven  you  comes  to  vun  at  all,  the  werry  picter  o'  the  last  ! 
As  to  the  honor  and  dignity  o'  travelling  vere  can  that  be 
vithout  a  coachman,  and  vats  the  rail  to  sich  coachmen  as 
is  sometimes  forced  to  go  by  it,  but  a  outrage  and  a  in 
sult  !  And  as  to  the  ingen,  a  nasty,  wheezin',  creakin', 
gaspin',  puffin',  bustin'  monster  always  out  o'  breath,  with  a 
shiny  green  and  gold  back  like  a  onpleasant  beetle  ;  as  to 
the  ingen  as  is  alvays  a  pourin'  out  red-hot  coals  at  night 
and  black  smoke  in  the  day,  the  sensiblest  thing  it  does,  in 
my  opinion,  is  ven  there's  somethin'  in  the  vay,  and  it  sets 
up  that  'ere  frightful  scream  vich  seems  to  say,  '  now  'eres 
two  hundred  and  forty  passengers  in  the  werry  greatest 
extremity  o'  danger,  and  'eres  their  two  hundred  and  forty 
screams  in  vun  ! '  " 


CHAPTER   XIII 

TWO    STAGE    VETERANS    OF    MASSACHUSETTS 

THERE  still  stands  in  Shrewsbury,  Massa 
chusetts,  at  the  junction  of  the  Westbor- 
ough  road  with  the  old  "  King's  Highway," 
a  weatherbeaten  but  dignified  house,  the  Pease 
Tavern  ;  it  is  shown  on  page  292.  This  house  was 
for  many  years  a  popular  resort  for  the  teamsters 
and  travellers  who  passed  back  and  forth  on  what 
was  then  an  important  road.  Behind  the  house 
was  originally  a  large  shed  with  roof  and  open  sides 
for  the  protection  from  rain  or  snow  of  the  great 
numbers  of  loaded  wagons.  In  another  covered 
shed  at  the  side  of  the  house  were  chairs  and  tables 
for  the  teamsters  and  shelves  for  any  baggage  they 
took  from  their  wagons.  This  shed  for  the  accom 
modation  of  the  teamsters  would  indicate  to  me  that 
they  were  not  so  unreservedly  welcome  at  this  tav 
ern  as  at  many  others  on  the  route.  Miss  Ward, 
in  her  entertaining  book,  Old  Times  in  Shrewsbury, 
says  that  under  this  shed,  in  the  side  boards  of  the 
house,  slight  holes  were  cut  one  above  the  other  to 
a  window  in  the  second  story.  These  holes  were 
large  enough  to  hold  on  by,  and  to  admit  the  toe 

291 


292  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

of  a  man's  boot ;  by  dexterous  use  of  hands  and 
feet  the  teamsters  were  expected  to  climb  up  the 
outside  wall  to  the  window,  and  thus  reach  their 
sleeping  apartments  without  passing  through  the 
hall  and  interior  of  the  house.  This  was,  it  was 
asserted,  for  the  convenience  both  of  the  family  and 


Pease  Tavern. 


the  travellers.  In  the  Wayside  Inn  at  Sudbury  a 
small  special  staircase  winding  in  the  corner  of  the 
taproom  led  to  the  four  "  drivers'  bedrooms " 
above.  One  of  the  upper  rooms  in  the  Pease  Tav 
ern  was  a  dancing  hall.  Across  this  hall  from  wall 
to  wall  was  a  swing  partition  which  could  be  hooked 
up  to  the  ceiling  when  a  dance  was  given,  but  at 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     293 

other  times  divided  the  hall  into  two  large  bed 
rooms.  This  was  a  common  appurtenance  of  the 
old-time  tavern. 

Major  John  Farrar,  an  officer  in  the  Revolution, 
first  kept  this  Shrewsbury  inn,  and  greatly  rejoiced 
when  Washington  visited  it  in  his  triumphal  jour 
ney  through  the  country.  His  successor  as  land 
lord,  Levi  Pease,  was  a  man  of  note  in  the  history 
of  travel  and  transportation  systems  in  Massachu 
setts.  He  was  a  Shrewsbury  blacksmith  who 
served  through  the  entire  Revolutionary  War  in  a 
special  function  —  which  might  be  entitled  a  confi 
dential  transportation  agent :  he  transferred  impor 
tant  papers,  carried  special  news,  purchased  horses 
and  stores,  foraged  for  the  army,  and  enjoyed  the 
full  confidence  of  the  leaders,  especially  of  Lafay 
ette.  In  1783,  when  peace  was  established,  he 
planned  to  establish  a  line  of  stages  between  Bos 
ton  and  Hartford,  and  thus  turn  his  knowledge 
of  roads  and  transportation  to  account.  Wholly 
without  funds,  he  found  no  one  ready  to  embark  in 
the  daring  project  and  work  with  him,  save  one 
young  stage-driver,  Reuben  Sykes  or  Sikes,  who 
braved  parental  opposition,  as  well  as  universal  dis 
couragement,  and  started  with  a  stage-wagon  from 
Hartford  to  Boston  at  the  same  hour  that  Captain 
Pease  set  out  from  Boston  to  Hartford.  Each 
made  the  allotted  trip  in  four  days.  The  fare  was 
ten  dollars  a  trip.  Empty  stages  were  soon  suc 
ceeded  by  prosperous  trips,  and  in  two  years  the 
penniless  stage  agent  owned  the  Boston  Inn  oppo 
site  the  Common,  in  Boston,  on  the  spot  where  St. 


294  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


Old  Arcade,  Shrewsbury,  Massachusetts. 

Paul's  Church    now    stands.     The    line    was    soon 
extended  to  New  York. 

Josiah  Quincy  gives  a  far  from  alluring  picture 
of  Pease's  coaches  in  the  earliest  days  :  — 

"  I  set  out  from  Boston  in  the  line  of  stages  lately 
established  by  an  enterprising  Yankee,  Pease  by  name, 
which  at  that  day  was  considered  a  method  of  transporta 
tion  of  wonderful  expedition.  The  journey  to  New  York 
took  up  a  week.  The  carriages  were  old  and  shackling, 
and  much  of  the  harness  made  of  ropes.  One  pair  of 
horses  carried  the  stage  eighteen  miles.  We  generally 
reached  our  resting  place  for  the  night,  if  no  accident  inter 
vened,  at  ten  o'clock,  and  after  a  frugal  supper  went  to  bed 
with  a  notice  that  we  should  be  called  at  three  the  next 
morning,  which  generally  proved  to  be  half-past  two. 
Then,  whether  it  snowed  or  rained,  the  traveller  must  rise 
and  make  ready  by  the  help  of  a  horn-lantern  and  a  farthing 
candle,  and  proceed  on  his  way  over  bad  roads,  sometimes 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     295 

with  a  driver  showing  no  doubtful  symptoms  of  drunken 
ness,  which  good-hearted  passengers  never  fail  to  improve 
at  every  stopping  place  by  urging  upon  him  another  glass 
of  toddy.  Thus  we  travelled,  eighteen  miles  a  stage, 
sometimes  obliged  to  get  out  and  help  the  coachman  lift 
the  coach  out  of  a  quagmire  or  rut,  and  arrived  at  New 
York  after  a  week's  hard  travelling,  wondering  at  the  ease 
as  well  as  expedition  of  our  journey." 

It  should  be  added  to  this  tale  that  young  Quincy 
was  in  love,  and  on  his  way  to  see  his  sweetheart, 
which  may  have  added  to  his  impatience. 

This  condition  of  affairs  was  not  permitted  to 
remain  long.  Captain  Pease  bought  better  horses 
and  more  comfortable  wagons,  and  he  persuaded 
townships  to  repair  the  roads ;  and  he  thus  adver 
tised  in  the  Massachusetts  Spy,  or  the  Worcester 
Gazette,  under  date  of  January  5,  1786  :- 

"Stages  from  Portsmouth  in  New  Hampshire,  to 
Savannah  in  Georgia. 

"  There  is  now  a  line  of  Stages  established  from  New 
Hampshire  to  Georgia,  which  go  and  return  regularly,^and 
carry  the  several  Mails,  by  order  and  permission  of  Con 
gress. 

"  The  stages  from  Boston  to  Hartford  in  Connecticut,  set 
out,  during  the  winter  season,  from  the  house  of  Levi 
Pease,  at  the  Sign  of  the  New  York  Stage,  opposite  the 
Mall,  in  Boston,  every  Monday  and  Thursday  morning,  pre 
cisely  at  five  o'clock,  go  as  far  as  Worcester  on  the  evenings 
of  those  days,  and  on  the  days  following  proceed  to  Palmer, 
and  on  the  third  day  reach  Hartford;  the  first  Stage  reaches 
the  city  of  New  Tork  on  Saturday  evening,  and  the  other  on 
the  Wednesday  evening  following. 


296  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

"  The  stages  from  New  York  for  Boston,  set  out  on  the 
same  days,  and  reach  Hartford  at  the  same  time  as  the 
Boston  Stages. 

"  The  stages  from  Boston  exchange  passengers  with  the 
stages  from  Hartford  at  Spencer,  and  the  Hartford  Stages 
exchange  with  those  from  New  York  at  Hartford.  Pas 
sengers  are  again  exchanged  at  Stratford  Ferry,  and  not 
again  until  their  arrival  at  New  York. 

"  By  the  present  regulation  of  the  stages,  it  is  certainly 
the  most  convenient  and  expeditious  way  of  travelling  that 
can  possibly  be  had  in  America,  and  in  order  to  make  it 
the  cheapest,  the  proprietors  of  the  stages  have  lowered 
their  price  from  four  pence  to  three  pence  a  mile,  with 
liberty  to  passengers  to  carry  fourteen  pounds  baggage. 

"  In  the  summer  season  the  stages  are  to  run  with  the 
mail  three  times  in  a  week  instead  of  twice  in  the  winter, 
by  which  means  those  who  take  passage  at  Boston  in  the 
stage  which  sets  off  on  Monday  morning,  may  arrive  at 
New  York  on  the  Thursday  evening  following,  and  all  the 
mails  during  that  season  are  to  be  but  four  days  going  from 
Boston  to  New  York,  and  so  from  New  York  to  Boston. 

"Those  who  intend  taking  passage  in  the  stages  must 
leave  their  names  and  baggage  the  evening  preceding  the 
morning  that  the  stages  set  off,  at  the  several  places  where 
the  stages  put  up,  and  pay  one-half  of  their  passage  to  the 
place  where  the  first  exchange  of  passengers  is  made,  if 
bound  so  far,  and  if  not,  one-half  of  their  passage  so  far  as 
they  are  bound. 

"  N.  B.  Way  passengers  will  be  accommodated  when  the 
stages  are  not  full,  at  the  same  rate,  viz.  three  pence  only 
per  mile. 

"Said  PEASE  keeps  good  lodging,  &c.  for  gentlemen 
travellers,  and  stabling  for  horses. 

"  BOSTON,  Jan.  2nd,  1786." 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     297 

Pease  obtained  the  first  Government  contract 
within  the  new  United  States  for  carrying  the  mails  ; 
and  the  first  mail  in  this  new  service  passed  through 
Worcester  on  the  yth  of  January,  1786  —  such 
changes  had  three  short  years  brought. 

All  was  not  ease  for  him  even  then  ;  he  still  drove 
the  stage,  and  endured  heat  and  cold ;  and  when 
New  England  snowstorms  could  not  be  overcome 
by  the  mail-coach,  like  many  another  of  his  drivers, 
he  shouldered  the  mail-bag  and  carried  the  mail  on 
snowshoes  to  Boston  town.  He  died  in  1824,  after 
having  received  from  the  Government  the  first 
charter  granted  in  Massachusetts  for  a  turnpike. 
It  was  laid  out  in  1808  from  Boston  through  South 
Shrewsbury  to  Worcester,  nearly  parallel  to  the  old 
road.  It  transformed  travel  in  that  vicinity  and, 
indeed,  served  to  alter  all  town  relations  and  con 
ditions.  This  grant  and  his  many  incessant  efforts 
to  establish  turnpikes  conferred  on  Levi  Pease  the 
title  of  the  "  Father  of  the  Turnpike." 

Many  other  charters  were  soon  granted,  and  the 
state  was  covered  with  a  network  of  turnpikes  which 
were  in  general  thronged  with  vehicles  and  live 
stock,  and  were  therefore  vastly  profitable.  From 
the  prospectus  of  the  Sixth  Massachusetts  Turn 
pike  Company,  incorporated  in  1799  to  build  a 
road  from  Amherst  to  a  point  near  Shrewsbury,  we 
learn  that  the  turnpike  from  Northampton  to  Pitts- 
field  paid  twelve  per  cent  dividend. 

On  these  great,  bustling,  living  thoroughfares  a 
sad  change  has  fallen.  In  Bedford,  Raystown, 
Somerset,  Greensbury,  in  scores  of  towns,  weeds 


298  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

and  grass  grow  in  the  ruts  of  the  turnpike.  The 
taverns  are  silent ;  some  are  turned  into  comfortless 
farm-houses,  others  are  closed  and  unoccupied,  sad 
and  deserted  widows  of  the  old  "pikes,"  far  gone  in 
melancholy  decline. 

Many  of  the  methods  familiar  to  us  in  railroad 
service  to-day  were  invented  by  Pease,  and  were 
crudely  in  practice  by  him.  He  introduced  the 
general  ticket  office  in  1795,  and  no  railroad  office 
to-day  sells  tickets  to  all  the  points  served  by  Pease. 
His  stage  office  was  in  State  Street,  Boston.  He 
evolved  what  we  now  term  the  "  limited "  and 
"  accommodation "  service  of  railroads ;  in  fact, 
the  term  "limited"  originated  with  mail-coaches 
limiting  passengers  to  a  specific  number.  Pease's 
fast  mail  line  took  but  four  passengers  in  each 
coach,  and  ran  to  New  York  three  times  a  week 
with  the  mails.  The  slower  line  charging  lower 
prices  ran  the  other  days  of  the  week  and  took 
all  applicants,  putting  on  extra  coaches  if  required. 
This  service  began  in  1793.  Tolls  were  commuted 
on  Massachusetts  turnpikes  before  1800,  so  that 
condition  of  railroad  travel  is  a  century  old. 

Not  far  from  this  Pease  Tavern  is  a  sulphur  spring 
which  has  some  medicinal  repute,  and  which  attracted 
visitors.  To  reach  it  at  one  time  you  passed  close 
to  the  house  of  the  Indian,  Old  Brazil,  and  his  wife 
Nancy,  and  this  was  always  a  ticklish  experience. 
Miss  Ward  tells  their  blood-curdling  story.  His 
real  name  was  the  gentle  title  Basil,  but  he  had 
been  a  pirate  on  the  high  seas,  and  Brazil  was  more 
appropriate.  He  and  his  wife  thriftily  ran  their 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     299 

little  farm  and  industriously  wove  charming  baskets 
and  peddled  them  around  the  neighboring  towns. 
These  last  leaves  on  the  tree  were,  for  all  the  percep 
tions  of  Shrewsbury  folk,  peaceful  creatures  as  they 
were  honest ;  but  when  Brazil  had  been  treated  to  a 
good  mug  of  hard  cider  at  tavern  or  farm-house 
(and  no  one  would  fail  thus  to  treat  him)  he  told  of 


Harrington  Tavern,  Shrewsbury,  Massachusetts. 

his  past  life  with  such  fierce  voice  and  horrid  ges 
ture  as  made  him  equally  a  delight  and  a  terror  to 
the  children  and  to  many  older  folk  as  well. 

He  had  been  a  bloodthirsty  villain;  scores,  per 
haps  hundreds,  of  helpless  souls  on  captured  craft 
had  perished  at  his  gory  hands.  He  detailed  to  the 
gaping  loungers  at  the  tavern  with  a  realism  worthy 
a  modern  novelist  how  he  split  the  heads  of  his 


300  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

victims  open  with  his  broadaxe  —  exactly  in  the 
middle  —  "one  half  would  fall  on  one  shoulder, 
tother  half  on  tother  shoulder  !  ugh  !  ugh  !  "  and 
with  another  pull  of  cider,  husband  and  wife  trotted 
contentedly  home.  About  1850  they  died  as  they 
had  lived,  close  —  and  loving  —  companions.  As 
a  fitting  testimonial  to  the  pirate's  end,  the  village 
boys  put  a  charge  of  gunpowder  in  the  brick  oven 
of  the  peaceful  little  kitchen  and  blew  the  pirate's 
house  in  fragments. 

At  a  time  when  he  could  not  afford  to  pay  high 
Boston  rents,  Pease  made  Shrewsbury  his  head 
quarters.  This  may  account  for  the  large  number 
of  old  taverns  in  the  town,  several  of  which  are  por 
trayed  in  these  pages,  —  the  Old  Arcade  on  page  294, 
Harrington's  Tavern  on  page  299,  Balch  Tavern  on 
page  301. 

The  Exchange  Hotel,  still  standing  and  still  in 
use  as  a  public  house,  was  the  stage  office  for  Pease's 
stage  line  in  Worcester.  This  interesting  old  land 
mark,  built  in  1784,  was  owned  by  Colonel  Reuben 
Sykes,  the  partner  of  Pease ;  and  other  coach  lines 
than  theirs  centred  at  the  Exchange,  and  made  it 
gay  with  arrival  and  departure.  As  the  United  States 
Arms,  Sykes's  Coffee-house,  Sykes's  Stage-house, 
Thomas  Exchange  Coffee-house,  and  Thomas  Tem 
perance  Exchange  in  the  days  of  the  Washingtonian 
movement,  this  hotel  has  had  an  interesting  exist 
ence.  President  Washington  in  1789  "  stopped  at 
the  United  States  Arms  where  he  took  breakfast, 
and  then  proceeded  on  his  journey.  To  gratify  the 
inhabitants  he  politely  passed  through  town  on 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     301 

horseback.  He  was  dressed  in  a  brown  suit,  and 
pleasure  glowed  in  every  countenance  as  he  came 
along."  Lafayette  was  also  a  guest ;  and  through 
its  situation  opposite  the  Worcester  court-houses  on 
Court  Hill  the  tavern  has  seen  within  its  walls  a 
vast  succession  of  men  noted  in  law  and  in  lawsuits. 


Balch  Tavern,  Shrewsbury  Massachusetts. 

From  1 830  to  1 846  a  brilliant  comet  flashed  its  way 
through  the  stage-driving  world  of  New  England;  it 
was  Hon.  Ginery  Twichell,  who  was  successively  and 
successfully  post-rider,  stage-driver,  stage  proprietor, 
most  noted  express  rider  of  his  times,  railroad  super 
intendent,  president  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester 
Railroad,  and  member  of  Congress.  Some  thirty 
years  ago  or  more  a  small  child  sat  in  the  "  operat 
ing  room  "  of  a  photographer's  gallery  in  Worcester. 
Her  feet  and  hands  were  laboriously  placed  in  a 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

tentatively  graceful  attitude  and  the  back  of  her 
head  firmly  fastened  in  that  iron  "  branks-without- 
a-gag  "  fixture  which  then  prevailed  in  photogra 
phers'  rooms  and  may  still,  for  all  that  I  know.  A 
sudden  dashing  inroad  from  an  adjoining  room  of 
the  photographer's  assistant  with  the  loud  and  excited 
exclamation," Ginery's  coming,  Ginery's  coming,"  led 
to  the  immediate  and  unceremonious  unveiling  of  the 
artist  from  the  heavy  black  cloth  that  had  enveloped 
his  head  while  he  was  peeping  wisely  through  the 
instrument  at  his  juvenile  sitter,  and  to  his  violent 
exit ;  he  was  followed  with  equal  haste  and  lack  of 
explanation  by  my  own  attendant.  Thus  basely 
deserted  I  sat  for  some  minutes  wondering  what  a 
Ginery  could  be,  for  there  was  to  me  a  sort  of  men 
agerie-circus-like  ring  in  the  word,  and  I  deemed  it 
some  strange  wild  beast  like  the  Pygarg  once  exhib 
ited  at  the  old  Salem  Tavern.  At  last,  though  fully 
convinced  that  my  moving  would  break  the  camera, 
I  boldly  disengaged  myself  from  the  claws  of  the 
branks,  ran  to  a  front  window,  and  hung  peering 
out  at  the  Ginery  over  the  heads  of  the  other  occu 
pants  of  the  gallery,  who  regarded  with  eager  delight 
no  wild  or  strange  beast,  but  a  great  stage-coach  with 
six  horses  which  stood  reeking,  foaming,  pawing,  in 
front  of  the  Baystate  House  across  the  street.  A 
dignified  and  self-contained  old  man,  ruddy  of  face, 
and  dressed  in  a  heavy  greatcoat  and  tall  silk  hat, 
sat  erect  on  the  coachman's  seat,  reins  well  in  hand 
—  and  suddenly  Ginery  and  his  six  horses  were  off 
with  rattle  of  wheels  and  blowing  of  horn  and 
cheers  of  the  crowd;  but  not  before  there  was  im- 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     303 

printed  forever  in  unfading  colors  on  my  young  brain 
a  clear  picture  of  the  dashing  coaching  life  of  olden 
days.  It  was  an  anniversary  of  some  memorable 
event,  and  the  member  of  Congress  celebrated 
it  by  once  more  driving  over  his  old-time  coach 
ing  route  to  meet  the  cheers  and  admiration  of  all 
beholders. 

The  predecessor  of  Baystate  House,  the  old  Cen 
tral  Hotel,  was  the  headquarters  of  Twichell's  stage 
line  during  the  sixteen  years  of  his  connection  with 
it.  It  was  built  in  1722,  and  rooms  in  it  served 
various  purposes  besides  those  of  good  cheer  —  one 
being  used  as  a  county  jail. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  the  coach  which  I  saw  was 
the  one  thus  referred  to  in  the  Boston  Traveller  of 
June  i,  1867,  as  Mr.  Twichell  occasionally  drove 
it  until  the  year  of  his  death  :  — 

"  The  venerable  coach  built  by  Moses  T.  Breck  of 
Worcester,  and  used  30  years  ago  in  the  heart  of  the  Com 
monwealth  by  Hon.  Ginery  Twichell  for  special  occasions 
before  railroads  were  fairly  in  vogue,  passed  through  our 
Boston  streets  on  Friday.  The  vehicle  was  of  a  most  sub 
stantial  pattern  ;  no  repairs  have  been  needed  through  all 
these  years  except  an  occasional  coat  of  varnish  and  new 
upholstering.  In  1840,  by  request  of  the  citizens  of  the 
town  of  Barre,  seats  were  added  on  the  top  of  the  vehicle, 
so  that  a  party  of  32  persons  could  be  accommodated  (12 
inside  and  20  outside).  The  largest  load  ever  carried  by 
the  ponderous  carriage  was  a  party  of  (62)  sixty-two  young 
ladies  of  Worcester  who,  uniformly  dressed,  were  driven  on 
a  blackberry  excursion  to  the  suburbs  by  Mr.  Twichell 
himself,  eight  matched  horses  being  required  on  the  occa 
sion.  During  the  exciting  Presidential  Campaign  of  1840, 


304  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

the  staunch  vehicle  was  used  for  conveying  the  sovereigns 
to  and  from  political  gatherings  in  the  town  surrounding 
old  Quinsigamond." 

There  is  still  living  in  Boston,  at  an  advanced 
age,  but  of  vigorous  mental  powers,  Mr.  Henry  S. 
Miner,  the  last  stage-driver  of  Ginery  Twichell's 
stage-route,  perhaps  the  last  person  living  who  was 
connected  with  it.  He  has  scores  of  tales  of  stage 
coach  days  which  he  has  capacity  to  frame  in  inter 
esting  language.  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  many 
letters  full  of  information  and  interest.  He  says  : 

"  Ginery  Twichell  was  a  shrewd,  quiet,  persevering 
man  of  but  few  words,  and  those  to  the  point ;  his  voice 
was  clear  and  low,  never  raised  to  horses  or  men.  Affable, 
sociable,  he  was  a  man  that  would  make  friends  and  hold 
them.  He  was  smooth-shaven  and  red-faced,  but  strictly 
temperate.  He  had  one  habit  of  rubbing  his  hands  rapidly 
when  in  earnest  conversation.  He  had  but  a  common 
school  education  and  might  be  called  a  self-made  man. 
Before  through  railroads  were  completed,  Mr.  Twichell 
collected  the  November  election  votes  on  horseback,  from 
Greenfield  to  Worcester,  54  miles,  covering  the  distance 
in  four  and  one-half  hours.  He  had  relays  of  horses  and 
men  every  6  to  10  miles.  As  the  work  always  came  in 
the  night,  he  was  many  times  thrown  by  his  horse  stumbling, 
but  always  came  out  all  right.  At  one  time  he  slept  in  his 
clothes  with  buckskin  underwear,  at  the  American  House 
in  Worcester,  in  wait  for  despatches  from  English  steamers.' 
He  had  men  and  horses  on  the  road  to  Norwich  for  one 
week  waiting  also.  When  the  dispatches  arrived  he 
mounted  his  horse  and  started  for  Norwich;  he  met  the 
boat,  and  the  despatches  were  in  New  York  hours  ahead  of 


WORCESTER  BIPOT, 

Btl,  Ji«»9.9  IIrattlel>oro%Pr.,  Kcene,,V. 

excepted.J 


f*'  J?  #  ?«•«  r<    If*  O  II  f  '  E  S  T  K  It  , 


nffeld  »»J  Broffleboro".  ft  «  oVIwfc.  A.  >I  ,.-DISil.\K  AT  BAKHK.- 

rn...,n  Trn:.;.  of  f,,r«  f..r 

;   H.«:s  [fare  \\itt,  lo'-ltt  uo  tbr  :.rri.;»l  «f  W.^rccirttr  Htng«-        . 
Tl  l.NliA  »  A.    Ttlt'KXn.I  t'f(.  a,..l  .V  <  Tt'ttlt.l  \'H.  nn.l  arriic  *t  K«-on<-,  X.  II.,  <»mc  day. 


and  FOIDAVN, 

\orwleli,'    l>I\I-\«  AT  Tt.HPf.KTOfr^-nrrl'e 


S.  TIUB*IUVM.  nn.l  S ATI  UDATS, «t  f  o'tlocl,  t.  11,     I)!M>«;  VI 

M'»«-f-l«T.iu  season  fur  the  aft»r«<»>n  Tr«i««  »f  T'ars  far  BuMon, 
,l».  WHirk  for  ><•»  V.-rk. 


Woreester, 


Alliol.  .-v.x^-  tbe  jHh*; 


«..  TWH  II ELL  A,  C 


Advertisement  of  Twichell's  Stage  Line. 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     305 

any  other  line.      I   am  the  only  one  of  his  drivers  living, 
and  one  hostler  is  living." 

A  friend  who  remembers  riding  with  Twichell 
eulogizes  him  in  the  warmest  terms  for  his  accom 
modating  spirit  and  happy  faculty  of  making  all  his 
passengers  as  comfortable  as  possible.  He  had  an 
inexhaustible  fund  of  racy  anecdotes  which  he  would 
tell  so  well  that  it  was  a  perfect  treat  to  ride  upon  the 
box  with  him.  He  was  a  general  favorite,  especially 
with  the  country  folks,  and  the  boys  and  girls  on 
the  road,  and  with  these  he  always  had  a  joke  to 
crack  whenever  it  came  his  way  to  do  so,  to  the 
infinite  amusement  of  the  travellers  whom  he  had  in 
charge.  He  carried  many  small  and  valuable  par 
cels,  and  executed  commissions  for  the  people  like 
an  expressman.  After  a  period  of  self-denial  in 
early  life,  throughout  which  he  had  saved  his  liberal 
earnings  carefully,  he  was  enabled  to  purchase  from 
Mr.  Stockwell  the  stage  and  two  horses  which  he 
drove  between  Athol  and  Barre.  About  1837  he 
started  with  Mr.  Burt  and  Mr.  Billings  a  stage  line 
from  Brattleboro  to  Worcester. 

In  1843  he  was  engaged  in  driving  a  stage  of 
his  own  between  Barre  and  Worcester.  Not  long 
afterwards  he  was  sole  owner  of  a  line  from  Green 
field,  Massachusetts,  to  Brattleboro,  Vermont.  The 
Postmaster-general  about  this  time  advertised  for 
mail  contracts,  and  Ginery  Twichell  went  to  Wash 
ington.  It  was  supposed  by  the  owners  of  the  other 
lines,  who  knew  he  had  gone  thither,  that  he  would 
not  undertake  to  execute  more  than  one  contract, 


306  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


Two  Stage  Veterans  of  Massachusetts     307 

but  his  own  private  views,  it  appears,  were  some 
what  broader,  for  he  contracted  with  the  Govern 
ment  to  carry  the  mails  upon  a  number  of  routes, 
greatly  to  the  astonishment  of  others  in  the  business; 
and  what  was  better  still,  he  accomplished  what  he 
had  undertaken  very  satisfactorily  to  the  Postmaster- 
general,  and  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  Napo 
leon  among  mail  contractors.  He  became  the  owner 
of  a  large  number  of  fine  stages  and  horses.  He 
ran  a  line  from  Worcester  to  Northfield,  sixty  miles, 
three  times  a  week ;  from  Worcester  to  Winchester, 
fifty-five  miles,  daily ;  from  Worcester  to  Keene, 
fifty-four  miles,  three  times  a  week  ;  to  Templeton 
twenty-five  miles,  daily;  from  Templeton  to  Green 
field,  forty-eight  miles,  daily  ;  from  Barre  to  Wor 
cester,  forty-four  miles,  daily.  In  all  this  was  two 
hundred  and  eighty-six  miles  of  stage-route,  and  it 
took  a  hundred  and  fifty-six  horses  to  do  the  work. 

The  picture  shown  on  page  306  is  from  a  litho 
graph  published  in  1850,  entitled, — 

"The  Unrivaled  Express  Rider,  Ginery Twichell, 
who  rode  from  Worcester  to  Hartford,  a  distance  of 
Sixty  miles  in  Three  hours  and  Twenty  minutes 
through  a  deep  snow,  January  23,  1846." 

It  commemorates  an  exploit  of  his  which  was 
much  talked  of  at  the  time  it  took  place. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

A    STAGING    CENTRE 

THE  story  of  the  tavern  and  stage  life  of  the 
town  of  Haverhill,  New  Hampshire,  may 
be  told  as  an  example  of  that  aspect  and  era 
of  social   history,  as  developed  in  a  country  town. 
tt  shows  the  power  the  stage-coach  was  in  bringing 
civilization  and  prosperity  to  remote  parts  of  the 
states,  what  an  illumination,  what  an  education. 

Haverhill  is  on  the  Connecticut  River  somewhat 
more  than  halfway  up  the  western  boundary  line  of 
the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  at  the  head  of  the 
Cohos  valley.  It  is  a  beautiful  fertile  tract  of  land 
which  had  been  cleared  and  cultivated  by  the  Ind 
ians  before  the  coming  of  the  white  man.  It  is 
lovely  and  picturesque  with  its  broad  intervales, 
splendid  mountains,  and  peaceful  river  winding  in 
the  sweeps  and  reaches  of  the  Oxbow ;  so  lovely 
that  Longfellow  declared  Haverhill  the  most  beauti 
ful  spot  he  ever  had  seen.  The  town  has  but  little 
colonial  history.  It  had  no  white  settlers  till  1761  ; 
but  the  first  who  did  take  up  land  and  build  there 
were,  as  was  the  casewith  nearly  all  New  Hampshire 
towns,  men  of  unusual  force  of  character  and  energy 
of  purpose  ;  by  Revolutionary  times  the  town  was 

308 


A  Staging  Centre  309 

well  established,  and  its  situation  and  resources  made 
it  the  authorized  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  troops 
destined  for  Canada.  At  the  end  of  the  war,  when 
the  danger  of  Indian  invasion  lessened,  the  town 
grew  rapidly,  but  there  were  still  only  bridle-paths 
blazed  through  the  woods  by  which  to  connect  with 
the  world,  and  until  this  century  its  only  roads  were 
the  river  road,  the  Coventry  Road  over  Morse  Hill, 
and  the  old  Road  from  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire. 
But  the  day  of  the  turnpike  and  vast  changes 
was  dawning.  In  1805,  in  this  town,  still  poor  and 
struggling,  were  men  who  contributed  their  share 
to  the  building  of  the  old  Cohos  Turnpike  from 
Plymouth  through  Warren  to  Haverhill.  The  old 
post-rider,  faithful  John  Balch,  who  had  carried  on 
foot  and  on  horseback  the  scant  letters  throughout 
the  dangerous  days  of  the  Revolution,  was  succeeded 
by  Colonel  Silas  May  in  a  Dutch  wagon,  carrying 
packages  and  the  mail.  As  he  drove  into  town 
blowing  his  horn  he  inaugurated  a  change  for  Hav 
erhill  that  was  indeed  a  new  life.  By  1814  a  perma 
nent  stage  line  was  established  between  Concord  and 
Haverhill  through  Plymouth;  and  the  first  coach 
came  down  the  long  hill  on  its  first  trip,  with  loud 
and  constant  blasts  of  the  horn,  with  a  linchpin 
gone,  but  wheel  safely  in  place  clean  up  to  the  tavern 
door,  thanks  to  Silas  May's  skilful  driving.  A  lead 
ing  spirit  in  obtaining  the  turnpike  charter  and  one 
of  the  proprietors  of  the  first  stage  line  was  Colonel 
William  Tarleton  (or  Tarlton),  then  a  dashing  young 
fellow  of  great  elegance  of  manners  ;  he  kept  the 
Tarleton  Tavern  on  Tarleton  Lake  on  the  Pike  till 


310  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


his  death.  Every  stage  and  team  that  went  down 
or  up  the  Pike  stopped  there  to  water  the  horses, 
with  water  in  which  was  thrown  salt ;  and  every 
passenger  had  at  least  a  hot  drink.  His  hostelry 
was  famous  for  two  generations,  and  all  the  while 

there    swung    in     the 
r"'^  breezes  that  swept  over 

Tarleton  Lake  the  old 
sign-board  which  is 
shown  here.  It  is  an 
oaken  board  on  which 
is  painted  on  one  side 
an  Indian  and  the  name 
William  Tarlton  and 
date,  1774;  on  the 
other  a  symbol  of 
Plenty.  It  is  owned 
by  his  grandson,  Amos 
Tarleton,  of  Haverhill, 
to  whose  cordial  inter 
est  and  intelligent  help 
I  owe  much  of  this 
story  of  Haverhill's 
coaching  days. 

The  turnpike  line 
from  Concord  to 
Haverhill  was  scarcely  under  way  when  a  rival  line 
was  started  which  came  through  Hanover,  and  con 
nected  with  the  stage  line  to  New  York.  Others 
followed  with  surprising  quickness;  the  chief  were 
lines  to  Boston,  New  York,  and  Stanstead,  Canada ; 
lesser  lines  of  coaches  ran  to  the  White  Mountains, 


Sign-board  of  Tarleton  Inn. 


A  Staging  Centre  311 

to  Montpelier,  Vermont,  to  Chelsea,  Vermont,  and 
elsewhere.  The  reason  for  this  sudden  growth  of 
Haverhill  was  found  in  its  position  with  regard  to 
the  neighboring  country ;  the  topography  of  upper 
New  England  made  it  a  proper  and  natural  travel 
centre. 

As  many  coaches  came  into  Haverhill  every 
night  and  started  out  early  the  next  morning,  as 
many  passengers  changed  coaches  there,  it  can  be 
readily  seen  that  the  need  of  taverns  was  great,  and 
a  number  at  once  were  opened.  Often  a  hundred 
and  fifty  travellers  were  set  down  daily  in  Haver 
hill.  The  Bliss  Tavern  was  one  of  the  first  to  be 
built  and  is  still  standing,  a  dignified  and  comfort 
able  mansion,  as  may  be  seen  from  its  picture  on 
page  314.  Its  landlord,  Joseph  Bliss,  was  a  man 
of  influence  in  the  town,  and  held  several  important 
offices  ;  his  house  was  the  headquarters  where  the 
judges  of  the  court  and  the  lawyers  stopped  when 
court  was  held  ;  for  Haverhill  was  a  shire  town,  a 
county  seat,  from  1773.  At  some  of  the  courts 
of  the  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  as  many  as 
twenty-two  justices  were  present ;  and  court  terms 
were  longer  then  than  now,  so  justices,  lawyers, 
clients,  sheriffs,  deputies,  jurors,  and  witnesses  came 
and  remained  in  town  till  their  law  business  was 
settled.  Sometimes  the  taverns,  were  crowded  for 
weeks.  The  court  and  bar  had  a  special  dining 
room  and  table  at  Bliss's  Tavern,  to  which  no  lay 
man,  however  high  in  social  standing,  was  admitted. 
On  Sundays  all  went  to  the  old  meeting-house  at 
Piermont,  where  there  was  a  "  Judges'  Pew.0 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


Sometimes  executions  took  place  in  town  —  a  grand 
day  for  the  taverns.  When  one  Burnham  was 
hanged  there  in  1805,  ten  thousand  people  witnessed 
the  sight.  Old  and  young,  mothers  with  babes, 
lads  and  lasses,  even  confirmed  invalids  thronged  to 

this  great  occasion. 

Besides  the  court  and 
its  following,  and  the 
pampered  travellers  in 
stage-coaches,  Haver- 
hill  taverns  had  by  1825 
other  classes  of  cus 
tomers.  Backward  and 
forward  from  upper 
New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont  to  Boston, 
Portsmouth,  and  Sa 
lem,  rolled  the  great 
covered  wagons  with 
teams  of  .six  or  eight 
horses  bearing  the  pro 
ducts  of  the  soil  and 
forest  to  the  towns  and 
the  products  of  the 
whole  earth  in  return. 
These  wagons,  which 
were  the  Conestoga  wagons  of  Pennsylvania,  made 
little  appearance  in  New  England  till  this  century  ; 
they  were  brought  there  by  the  War  of  1812  ;  but 
they  had  there  their  day  of  glory  and  usefulness  as 
elsewhere  throughout  our  whole  northern  con 
tinent. 


Sign-board  of  Tarlton  Inn. 


A  Staging  Centre  313 

The  two-wheeled  cart  of  the  earliest  colonists, 
clumsily  built  and  wasteful  of  power,  was  used 
long  in  New  England  for  overland  transportation  ; 
though  the  chief  transfer  of  merchandise  was  in 
the  winter  by  "  sledding."  There  seems  to  have 
always  been  plentiful  snow  and  good  sledding  every 
year  in  every  part  of  New  England  in  olden  times, 
though  it  is  far  from  being  so  to-day.  The  farmer, 
at  that  season  of  the  year,  had  little  else  to  do, 
and  the  ancient  paths  were  soon  made  smooth  by 
many  sleighs  and  sleds. 

Mr.  Henry  S.  Miner  gives  me  a  very  interesting 
account  of  these  freight  wagons  in  New  England  as 
he  remembers  them  in  ante-railroad  days.  Though 
the  traffic  was  small  in  amount  compared  with  that 
of  the  present  day,  it  was  carried  on  in  a  way  which 
gave  a  sense  of  great  life  and  action  on  the  road. 
As  even  little  towns  furnished  freight  for  several 
teams,  the  aggregate  was  large,  and  as  they  neared 
Boston  the  number  of  teams  on  the  highway  seemed 
enormous.  These  passed  through  towns  on  the 
turnpike  every  day,  Sundays  included.  No  voca 
tion  called  for  sturdier  or  better  men.  The  drivers 
were  almost  invariably  large,  hearty,  healthy  Yan 
kees,  of  good  sense  and  regular  habits,  though  they 
were  seldom  total  abstainers.  They  could  not  be 
drunkards,  for  their  life  was  too  vigorous ;  long 
whip  in  hand,  they  walked  beside  their  teams.  The 
whip  was  a  sign  of  office,  seldom  applied  to  a  horse. 
They  had  to  be  keen  traders,  good  merchants,  to 
sell  advantageously  the  goods  they  carried  to  town 
and  to  choose  wisely  for  return  trips.  Country 


314  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

merchants  seldom  went  to  the  cities,  but  depended 
wholly  on  these  teamsters  for  supplies. 

The  wagons  were  of  monstrous  size,  broad  and 
high.  Each  horse  had  a  ton  of  freight.  No  one 
was  a  regular  teamster  who  drove  less  than  four 
horses.  But  there  were  other  carriers.  A  three- 
horse  team  called  a  "  spike,"  a  two-horse  team 


Bliss's  Tavern. 


called  a  "  podanger,"  and  a  single  horse  with  cart 
called  a  "gimlet,"  were  none  of  them  in  favor  with 
tavern-keepers  or  other  teamsters.  Still,  if  the 
smaller  teams  got  stuck  in  the  mud  or  snow,  the 
regulars  would  good-humoredly  help  them  out. 
Whatever  accident  happened  to  a  teamster  or  his 
wagon  or  horses,  his  fellow-craftsmen  assisted  him, 
while  stage-drivers,  drovers,  or  any  other  travelling 
citizens  were  never  looked  upon  for  help. 


A   Staging  Centre  315 

An  old  man  who  drove  one  of  these  teams  in  his 
youth  says  :  — 

"  When  these  large  teams  were  hooked  to  the  wagons, 
the  starting  word  was  c  whoo-up  ' ;  and  the  horses  would  at 
once  place  themselves  in  position.  Then,  c  Order,  whope, 
git.'  To  turn  to  the  left,  '  Whoa,  whoa,'  softly  ;  to  the 
right,  c  Geer  there.'  For  a  full  stop,  c  Whoa  who-oof,'  in 
louder  voice,  and  all  would  come  to  a  standstill.  It  was  a 
fine  sight  to  see  six  or  eight  good  horses  spread  out,  march 
ing  along  in  each  other's  steps,  and  see  how  quick  they 
were  to  mind  the  driver's  voice.  Good  drivers  always 
spoke  to  their  teams  in  a  low  voice,  never  shouted.  The 
teamsters  walked  beside  their  teams,  twenty  miles  a  day  the 
average.  The  reins  were  done  up  on  each  horse's  hames, 
allowing  them  to  spread  apart  with  ease,  a  check-rein  from 
the  bit  over  the  hames  to  keep  them  where  they  belonged. 
You  could  never  teach  a  horse  anything  that  wasn't  checked 
up.  The  wagons  weighed  from  eighteen  hundred  to  twenty- 
two  hundred  pounds.  Some  wagons  had  an  adjustable  seat 
called  a  lazy-board." 

With  winter  snows  the  wagons  were  generally 
housed ;  hundreds,  yes,  thousands  of  sleighs,  pods, 
and  pungs  took  their  place.  The  farmer  no  longer 
sent  to  town  by  wagon  and  teamster ;  he  carried  his 
farm  produce  to  town  himself,  just  as  his  grand 
father  had  in  the  days  of  the  cart  and  sled  before  the 
Revolution.  Winter  brought  red-letter  days  to -the 
New  England  farmer;  summer  and  autumn  were 
his  time  of  increase,  but  winter  was  his  time  of  trade 
and  of  glorious  recreation. 

Friendly  word  was  circulated  from  farm  to  farm, 
spread  chiefly  at  the  Sabbath  nooning,  that  at  stated 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


date,  at  break  of  day  the  long  ride  to  market 
would  begin.  Often  twenty  or  thirty  neighbors 
would  start  together  on  the  road  to  town.  The  two- 
horse  pung  or  single-horse  pod,  shod  with  steel  shoes 
one  inch  thick,  was  closely  packed  with  farm  wealth 
—  anything  that  a  New  England  farm  could  pro 
duce  that  could  be  sold  in  a  New  England  town. 


Old  Sleigh  with  Double  Dashboard. 

Frozen  hogs,  poultry,  and  venison- ;  firkins  of  butter, 
casks  of  cheeses,  —  four  to  a  cask,  —  bags  of  beans, 
peas,  sheep-pelts,  deer  hides,  skins  of  mink,  fox,  and 
fisher-cat  that  the  boys  had  trapped,  perhaps  a 
splendid  bearskin,  nuts  that  the  boys  had  gathered, 
shoe  pegs  that  they  had  cut,  yarn  their  sisters  had 
spun,  stockings  and  mittens  they  had  knitted,  home 
spun  cloth  and  linen,  a  forest  of  splint  brooms 


A  Staging  Centre  317 

strapped  on  behind,  birch  brooms  that  the  boys  had 
whittled.  So  closely  packed  was  the  sleigh  that  the 
driver  could  not  sit ;  he  stood  on  a  little  semicircu 
lar  step  on  the  back  of  the  sleigh,  protected  from 
the  cutting  mountain  winds  by  the  high  sleigh  back. 
At  times  he  ran  alongside  to  keep  his  blood  briskly 
warm. 

To  Troy  and  Portland  went  some  winter  com 
merce,  but  Boston,  Portsmouth,  and  Salem  took  far 
the  greatest  amount.  On  the  old  Cohos  Turnpike 
trains  of  these  farm  sleighs  were  often  a  half  mile 
long.  The  tavern-keepers  might  well  have  grown 
rich,  had  all  these  winter  travellers  paid  for  board 
and  lodging,  but  nearly  all,  even  the  wealthiest  farm 
ers,  carried  their  own  provender  and  food.  Part  of 
their  oats  and  hay  for  their  horses  sometimes  was 
deposited  with  honest  tavern-keepers  on  the  way 
down  to  be  used  on  the  way  home  ;  and  there  was 
also  plenty  of  food  to  last  through  the  journey  : 
doughnuts,  cooked  sausages,  roast  pork,  "  rye  and 
injun  "  bread,  cheese,  and  a  bountiful  mass  of  bean 
porridge.  This  latter,  made  in  a  tub  and  frozen  in 
a  great  mass,  was  hung  by  loops  of  twine  by  the  side 
of  the  sleigh,  and  great  chunks  were  chopped  off 
from  time  to  time.  This  itinerant  picnic  was  called 
in  some  vicinities  tuck-a-nuck,  an  Indian  word;  also 
mitchin.  It  was  not  carried  from  home  because  tav 
ern-fare  was  expensive,  —  a  "  cold  bite  "  was  but 
twelve  and  a  half  cents,  and  a  regular  meal  but 
twenty -five  cents ;  but  the  tavern-keeper  did  not 
expect  to  serve  meals  to  this  class  or  to  such  a  great 
number  of  travellers.  His  profits  were  made  on 


318 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


liquor  he  sold  and  sleeping  room  he  gave.  The 
latter  was  often  simple  enough.  Great  fires  were 
built  in  barroom  and  parlor ;  each  driver  spread  out 
a  blanket  or  fur  robe,  and  with  feet  to  the  fire,  the 
semicircle  slept  the  sleep  of  the  healthy  and  tired 
and  cider-filled.  Ten  cents  this  lodging  cost ;  but 
the  sale  of  rum  and  cider,  toddy  and  flip,  brought 


Old  Passenger  Pung. 

in  dimes  and  dollars  to  the  tavern-keeper.  Many 
a  rough  story  was  told  or  old  joke  laughed  at  before 
the  circle  was  quiet ;  quarrels,  too,  took  place  among 
so  many  strong  and  independent  men. 

It  can  readily  be  seen  how  important  the  tavern 
must  have  been  in  such  a  town  as  Haverhill,  what 
a  news  centre,  what  an  attraction,  what  an  education. 
Newspapers  were  infrequent,  but  none  were  needed 
when  newcomers  from  all  points  of  the  compass 


A  Staging  Centre  319 

brought  all  there  was  to  tell  from  everywhere.  Mine 
host  was  the  medium  through  which  information 
was  spread  ;  he  came  into  close  contact  with  lead 
ers  in  law,  politics,  and  business,  and  dull  he  must 
have  been  if  he  did  not  profit  in  mental  growth. 
But  he  could  not  be  dull,  he  had  to  be  companion 
able  and  intelligent ;  hence  we  find  the  tavern- 
keeper  the  leading  man  in  town,  prominent  in 
affairs,  and  great  in  counsel,  and  it  was  to  the  stage 
coach  he  owed  much  of  his  intelligence  and  influence. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE    STAGE-DRIVER 

IN  a  home-library  in  an  old  New  England  town 
there  were  for  half  a  century  two  sets  of  books 
which  seemed  strangely  alien  to  the  other  staid 
occupants  of  the  bookshelves,  which  companions 
were  chiefly  rows  of  encyclopaedias,  Scott's  novels, 
the  Spectator  and  ^atler^  a  large  number  of  books 
of  travel,  and  scores  of  biographies,  autobiogra 
phies  and  memoirs  of  pious  "  gospellers,"  English 
and  American,  chiefly  missionaries.  These  two 
special  sets  of  books  were  large  volumes,  but  were 
not  placed  primly  and  orderly  with  others  of  their 
own  size  ;  they  were  laid  on  their  sides  thrust  high 
up  among  the  smaller  books  on  the  upper  shelves 
as  if  to  escape  notice  under  the  frames  of  the 
glazed  doors.  They  were  strictly  tabooed  to  all  the 
younger  members  of  the  family,  and  were,  indeed, 
well  out  of  our  reach  ;  but  Satan  can  find  library 
steps  for  idle  and  very  inquisitive  little  souls  to  climb, 
and  we  had  read  them  eagerly  before  we  were  in  our 
teens.  One  set  was  that  inestimable  and  valuable 
work  London  Labour  and  London  Poor,,  which  was 
held  to  be  highly  improper  reading  for  the  young, 
but  which  I  found  very  entertaining,  as  being  of 

320 


The   Stage-Driver 


321 


folk  as  remote  from  my  life  as  if  they  were  gnomes 
and  elves.  The  other  volumes  were  Pierce  Egan's 
Book  of  Sports ;  and  one,  a  prince  of  wicked  books, 
entitled  Life  in  London :  or  the  Day  and  Night 
Scenes  of  Jerry  Hawthorne,  Esq.,  and  his  elegant  friend 
Corinthian  Tom  accompanied  by  Bob  Logic,  the  Oxonian, 
in  their  Rambles  and  Sprees  through  the  Metropolis. 
This  also  was  by  Pierce  Egan. 


Relay  House. 

That  this  latter  most  reprehensible  book  (from 
the  standard  of  the  Puritan  household  in  which  it 
was  found)  should  have  been  preserved  at  all  must 
have  been,  I  think,  from  the  fact  that  the  illustra 
tions  were  by  Cruikshank,  and  delightful  pictures 
they  were.  Though  this  book  was  so  ill-regarded  in 
New  England,  its  career  in  England  was  a  most  brill 
iant  one.  It  was  the  most  popular  work  in  British 


3 22  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

literature  in  the  years  1820  to  1850;  in  fact,  to  many 
Englishmen  it  was  the  book,  the  literature,  of  the 
period.  One  claim  it  has  to  the  consideration  of  the 
reading  public  to-day  :  it  is  perhaps  the  best  picture 
existing  of  Society,  or,  as  it  was  termed  in  the  words 
of  the  day,  of  "  Life,  Fashion,  and  Frolic,"  in  the 
times  of  George  IV.  Thackeray  tells,  in  his  article 
on  George  Cruikshank,  of  the  lingering  fondness 
he  had  for  this  old  book,  but  even  when  he  wrote 
could  find  no  copy  either  in  the  British  Museum  or 
in  London  circulating  libraries.  It  was  dramatized 
by  several  hands,  and  had  long  runs  on  the  stage 
both  in  England  and  the  United  States  ;  and  I  do 
not  doubt  wealthy  young  men  in  the  large  Ameri 
can  cities  tried  to  emulate  the  sports  of  the  London 
Tom  and  Jerry.  In  the  peculiar  affectations  of'the 
bucks  and  bloods  of  that  day,  from  the  king  down, 
shown  in  the  love  of  all  low  sports,  in  association, 
even  familiarity,  with  low  sportsmen,  and  in  the 
domination  of  the  horse  in  sporting  life,  we  see  the 
reason  for  the  high  perfection  and  participation  of 
the  rich  in  coaching  in  England  —  a  perfection  which 
was  aped  in  some  respects  in  America.  Coaching  is 
less  talked  about  than  other  sports  by  Jerry  and  the 
elegant  Corinthian  Tom  (whose  surname  is  never 
once  given),  probably  because  their  dissipations  and 
sprees  were  those  of  the  city,  not  of  turnpike  roads 
and  green  lanes.  But  the  life  of  the  day,  perhaps 
the  idlest,  most  aimless  era  of  fashion  in  English 
history,  the  life  most  thoroughly  devoid  of  any 
spirituality  or  intellectuality,  yet  never  exactly  un 
intelligent  and  never  dull,  lives  forever  in  Pierce 


The  Stage-driver  323 

Egan's  pages  ;  and  lives  for  me  with  the  intensity 
of  reality  from  the  eager  imprinting  on  the  fresh 
memory  of  a  little  child  of  unfamiliar  scenes  and 
incomprehensible  words,  knowledge  even  of  whose 
existence  was  sternly  forbidden. 

I  obtained  trom  these  books  a  notion  of  an  Eng 
lish  coachman,  as  an  idealized  being,  a  combination 
of  Phoebus  Apollo,  a  Roman  charioteer,  and  the 
Prince  Regent.  I  fancied  our  American  coach- 
drivers  as  glorious  likewise,  though  with  a  lesser 
refulgence  ;  and  I  distinctly  recall  my  disappoint 
ment  at  the  reality  of  the  first  coachman  of  my  first 
coach-ride  from  Charlestown,  New  Hampshire.  A 
man,  even  on  a  day  of  Indian  Summer,  all  in  hide 
and  fur  :  moth-eaten  fur  gloves,  worn  fur  cap  with 
vast  ear-flaps  and  visor,  and  half-bare  buffalo-hide 
coat,  and  out  of  all  these  ancient  skins  but  one  visi 
ble  feature,  a  great,  shining,  bulbous  nose.  But  even 
the  paling  days  of  stage-coaches  were  then  long  past ; 
and  the  ancient  coachman  had  long  been  shorn  of 
his  glory.  In  the  days  of  his  prime  he  was  a  power 
in  the  land,  though  he  was  not  like  the  English 
coachman. 

From  Mr.  Miner  and  others  who  remember  the 
great  days  of  stage-coach  travel,  I  learn  that  our 
American  drivers  were  a  dignified  and  interesting 
class  of  men.  Imposing  in  bearskin  caps,  in  vast  ^ 
greatcoats,  and  with  their  teams  covered  with  ivory 
rings,  with  fine  horses  and  clean  coaches,  they  and 
their  surroundings  were  pleasant  to  the  eyes.  They 
acquired  characteristic  modes  of  speaking,  of  think 
ing.  They  were  terse  and  sententious  in  expression, 


j 24  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

had  what  is  termed  horse  sense.  They  had  prudence 
and  ability  and  sturdy  intelligence.  They  carried 
from  country  to  town,  from  house  to  house,  news 
of  the  health  of  loved  ones,  or  of  sickness  when 
weary  nurses  were  too  tired  to  write.  A  kindly 
driver  would  stop  his  horses  or  walk  them  past  a 
lane  corner  where  an  anxious  mother  or  sister  waited, 
dreading  ;  and  passengers  in  the  coach  would  hear 
him  call  out  to  her,  "John's  better,  fever's  all  gone." 
They  were  character-readers,  of  man  and  horse 
alike.  They  had  great  influence  in  the  community 
they  called  home,  and  their  word  was  law.  They 
were  autocrats  in  their  own  special  domain,  and  re 
spected  everywhere.  No  wonder  they  loved  the  life. 
Harrison  Bryant,  the  veteran  Yankee  whip,  inherited 
a  fine  farm  in  Athol.  He  at  once  gave  up  his  hard 
life  as  a  driver,  bade  good-by  to  the  cold  and  expos 
ure,  the  long  hours  of  work,  the  many  hardships, 
and  settled  down  to  an  existence  of  sheltered  pros 
perity.  On  the  third  day  of  his  life  on  the  farm  he 
stood  at  the  edge  of  a  field  as  a  stage  passed  on  the 
road.  The  driver  gave  "  the  Happy  Farmer "  a 
salute  and  snapped  his  whip.  The  horses  started 
ahead  on  the  gallop,  a  passenger  on  top  waved 
good-by  to  him  ;  the  coach  bounded  on  and  dis 
appeared.  Farmer  Bryant  walked  sombrely  across 
the  field  to  his  new  home,  packed  his  old  carpet-bag, 
went  to  the  stage-office  in  the  next  town,  and  two 
days  later  he  swept  down  the  same  road  on  the  same 
coach,  snapping  his  whip,  waving  his  hand,  leaving 
the  miles  behind  him.  He  was  thus  one  week  off 
the  coach-box,  and  at  the  end  of  his  long  life  had  a 


The  Stage-driver  325 

well-established  record  of  over  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five  thousand  miles  of  stage  driving,  more 
than  five  times  round  the  world. 

A  letter  written  by  an  "  old-timer  "  says  :  — 

"  I  remember  many  of  the  old  stage-drivers.  What  a 
line  was  the  old  l  accommodation  '  put  on  by  Gen.  Hoi- 
man  and  others  !  What  a  prince  of  drivers  was  Driver 
Day  !  Handsome,  dressy,  and  a  perfect  lady's  man  !  How 
many  ladies  were  attracted  to  a  seat  on  the  box  beside  him ! 
Then  such  a  team,  and  with  what  grace  they  were  guided  ! 
How  many  young  men  envied  his  grace  as  a  driver  !  So, 
also,  what  gentlemen  were  the  tavern-keepers  of  that  day  ! 
They  studied  to  please  the  public  by  their  manners,  though 
behind  the  scenes  some  of  them  could  spice  their  conversa 
tion  with  big  words." 

A  very  vivid  description  of  the  dress  of  the  old 
stage-drivers  of  Haverhill  and  other  New  Hampshire 
towns  was  given  me  by  Mr.  Amos  Tarleton,  an 
old  inhabitant  of  the  town.  He  says  :  — 

"  The  winter  dress  of  these  old  drivers  was  nearly  all 
alike.  Their  clothing  was  of  heavy  homespun,  calfskin 
boots,  thick  trousers  tucked  inside  the  boots,  and  fur-lined 
overshoes  over  the  boots.  Over  all  these  were  worn  Cana 
dian  hand-knit  stockings,  very  heavy  and  thick,  colored 
bright  red,  which  came  up  nearly  to  the  thighs,  and  still 
over  that  a  light  leather  shoe.  Their  coats  were  generally 
fur  or  buffalo  skin  with  fur  caps  with  ear  protectors,  either 
fur  or  wool  tippets.  Also  a  red  silk  sash  that  went  round 
the  body  and  tied  on  the  left  side  with  a  double  bow  with 
tassels." 

Can  you  not  see  one  of  those  hairy  old  bears 
peering  out  of  his  furs,  vain  in  scarlet  sash  and 


326  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

tassels,  and  with  his  vast  feet  planted  on  the  dash 
board  ?  What  were  on  his  fore  paws  ?  double-pegged 
mittens,  leather  gauntlets,  fur  gloves,  wristlets,  and 
muffettees  ? 

Mr.  Twining  declared  that  the  skill  of  American 
drivers  equalled  that  of  English  coachmen,  though 
they  had  little  of  the  smart  appearance  of  the  latter, 
"  neither  having  the  hat  worn  on  one  side,  nor 
greatcoat,  nor  boots,  but  wearing  coarse  blue  jack 
ets,  worsted  stockings,  and  thick  shoes." 

A  traveller  calling  himself  a  Citizen  of  the  World, 
writing  in  1829,  noted  with  pleasure  that  the  driv 
ers  on  American  coaches  neither  asked  for  nor  took 
a  fee,  but  simply  wished  the  passengers  a  polite 
good  morning.  Other  Englishmen  greeted  this 
fact  with  approval.  Mr.  Miner  tells  us  "  tipping  " 
was  unknown  —  which  was  so  customary,  indeed  so 
imperative,  in  England.  Sometimes  travellers  who 
went  frequently  over  the  same  route  would  make  a 
gift  to  the  driver. 

The  custom  of  "  shouldering,"  which  was  for  the 
coachman  to  take  the  fare  of  a  way-passenger  —  one 
who  did  not  register  or  start  at  the  booking-office 
—  and  pocket  it  without  making  any  return  to  the 
coach  agent  or  proprietor,  was  universal  in  England. 
Some  coach  companies  suffered  much  by  it,  and  it 
was  a  tidy  bit  of  profit  to  the  unscrupulous  coach 
man.  Shouldering  was  common  also  in  the  new 
world,  and  called  by  the  same  name.  There  were 
no  "spotters"  on  coaching  lines  as  on  street  railways. 

As  in  every  trade,  profession,  or  calling,  stage- 
coaching  had  a  vocabulary  —  call  it  coaching  slang 


The  Stage-driver 


327 


View  of  Middletown,  Connecticut. 


if  you  will.  Among  English  coachmen  "skidding" 
was  checking  with  a  shoe  or  drag  or  "  skid-pan  " 
the  wheels  of  the  coach  when  going  down  hill,  thus 
preventing  them  from  revolving,  and  slackening 
the  progress  of  the  coach.  "  Fanning  "  the  horses 
was,  in  coachman's  tongue,  whipping  them  ;  "  tow 
elling  "  was  flogging  them;  and  "chopping"  the 
cruel  practice  of  hitting  the  horse  on  the  thigh  with 
the  whip.  "  Pointing "  was  hitting  the  wheeler 
with  the  point  of  the  whip.  A  "  draw  "  was  a  blow 
at  the  leader.  If  the  thong  of  the  whip  lapped 
round  any  part  of  the  harness,  it  was  called  "  having 
a  bite."  "Throat-lashing"  was  another  term. 

Another  and  expressive  use  of  the  word  bite  was 
to  indicate  a  narrow  strip  of  gravel  or  broken  stone 
on  the  near  side  of  a  winding  road  on  a  steep  hill. 
The  additional  friction  on  the  wheel  on  one  side 
made  a  natural  drag  or  brake,  while  the  wheels  of 
the  ascending  coach  did  not  touch  it. 


328  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

The  drivers  on  local  lines  grew  to  be  on  terms 
of  most  friendly  intimacy  with  dwellers  along  the 
route.  They  bore  messages,  brought  news,  carried 
letters  and  packages,  transacted  exchange,  and  did 
all  kinds  of  shopping  at  the  citywards  end  of  the 
route.  An  old  coach-driver  in  Ayer,  Massachu 
setts,  told  me  with  much  pride  that  he  always 
bought  bonnets  in  Boston  for  all  the  women  along 
his  route  who  could  not  go  to  town  ;  and  that  often 
in  the  spring  the  bandboxes  were  piled  high  on 
the  top  of  his  coach ;  that  he  never  bought  two 
alike,  and  that  there  wasn't  another  driver  on  the 
road  that  the  women  would  trust  to  perform  this 
important  duty  save  himself. 

The    great    bell-crowned    hat    which    the    driver 

Q 

wore  in  summer  on  lines  leaving  Boston  often  was 
crammed  with  papers  and  valuables,  and  one  of 
the  rules  of  the  Eastern  Stage  Company  at  one 
time  was,  "  No  driver  shall  carry  anything  except 
in  his  pocket."  It  is  said  many  of  the  drivers 
grew  bald  from  the  constant  weight  on  their 

O  D 

heads. 

The  constant  imbibing  of  ale,  brandy,  and  rum- 
and-milk  by  English  coachmen  at  coaching  inns 
was  echoed  in  America  by  drivers  at  every  tavern 
at  which  the  stage-coach  stopped.  The  driver  was 
urged  to  drink  by  coach  passengers  who  had  far 
better  have  implored  him  not  to  drink.  Many  an 
old  driver  showed  by  the  benignant  purple  glow  of 
his  nose  that  the  importunities  of  the  travellers  had 
been  duly  silenced  by  more  than  ample  hard  cider, 
gin,  and  New  England  rum. 


The  Stage-driver  329 

A  great  day  on  the  coaches  was  when  school 
boys  and  college  boys  went  home  on  their  vaca 
tions.  The  tops  of  the  coaches  were  rilled  with 
their  square  boxes,  which  packed  like  cord-wood. 
On  these  boxes  and  within  the  coach  swarmed  the 
boys,  pea-shooters  in  hand.  A  favorite  target  was 
the  pike-keeper  at  the  toll-gate,  and  those  who  left 
the  coach  first  fared  worst.  Our  boys  have  but  a 
feeble  imitation  of  these  good  times  when  they  riot 
into  a  railway  car  together  for  a  few  hours  of  hur 
ried  travel  to  their  city  homes. 

The  stage-drivers  were  universally  kind  and 
careful  of  all  children  placed  under  their  charge ; 
even  young  children,  boys  and  girls,  were  intrusted 
to  their  care. 

One  old  gentleman  tells  me  that  in  the  days  of 
his  youth  he  rode  by  stage-coach  to  and  from  school, 
and  so  strong  was  his  longing  for  a  seafaring  life, 
with  such  a  flavor  of  salt  water  and  tar  did  he 
englamour  every  unusual  event,  that  it  was  inevitable 
with  the  imaginativeness  of  a  child  he  should  com 
pare  this  trip  by  stage  to  a  sea  voyage  ;  the  roads 
and  fields  he  mentally  termed  the  ocean,  the  driver 
was  the  captain,  the  inside  of  the  coach  the  cabin, 
the  top  the  deck,  and  so  on.  He  was  honored  by 
having  a  seat  with  the  driver ;  and  as  the  day  waned, 
and  the  ship  came  to  anchor,  and  all  disembarked 
for  supper  at  a  stage  tavern,  he  was  further  honored 
by  eating  supper  with  the  driver  and  being  treated 
to  a  glass  of  toddy.  After  the  coach  was  again 
under  way  the  driver  had  some  tardy  compunctions 
that  the  toddy  had  been  rather  strong  drink  for  a 


33°  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

growing  boy,  and  said  plainly  that  he  feared  the 
young  traveller  felt  the  liquor  and  might  tumble 
from  his  high  seat.  He  was  not  reassured  when 
the  boy  answered  dreamily,  "  Never  mind,  I  can 
swim."  After  glancing  sharply  at  him,  the  driver 
stopped  his  horses,  and  ignominiously  forced  the 
boy  to  descend  and  make  the  rest  of  the  journey 
inside  the  coach. 

Nothing  is  more  marked  than  the  changes  in 
travelling-bags  and  trunks  from  those  of  stage-coach 
days.  When  our  ancestors  crossed  the  ocean  they 
transported  their  belongings  in  wooden  chests  — 
common  sea-chests  and  chests  of  xarved  wood.  I 
have  seen  no  mention  of  trunks  in  any  old  colonial 
inventories,  though  trunks  existed  and  are  named  by 
Shakespere.  These  old  trunks  were  metal  coffers, 
and  usually  small.  When  Judge  Sewall  went  to 
England  in  1690,  he  bought  trunks  for  his  little 
daughters  —  trunks  of  leather  or  hide  with  their 
initials  studded  in  metal  nails.  This  shape  of  trunk 
lasted  till  the  days  of  the  railroad.  Nearly  all  old 
families  have  one  or  more  of  these  old  trunks  in  their 
garrets.  They  were  stout  enough  of  frame,  and 
heavy  enough  of  frame  to  have  lasted  in  larger  num 
bers,  and  for  centuries,  but  their  heavy  deerskin  or 
pigskin  covering  often  grew  sorely  offensive  through 
harboring  moths  ;  and  as  they  held  but  little,  and 
were  very  heavy,  they  were  of  no  use  for  a  modern 
wardrobe.  Their  long  narrow  forms,  however,  were 
seen  laden  on  every  stage-coach,  in  company  with 
carpet  bags  and  leather  sacks,  and  the  schoolboy 
who  owned  one  was  a  proud  fellow. 


Xhe  Stage-driver 

An  ancient  travelling  bag  is  shown  on  page  333. 
It  is  of  a  heavy  woollen  homespun  stuff  ribbed  like 
corduroy,  mounted  with  green  leather  bindings, 
straps,  handles,  etc.  It  is  shaped  like  a  mail-bag, 
and  the  straps  laced  through  large  eyelet  holes. 


Deer's  Hide  and  Pigskin  Trunks. 


This  bag  is  believed  by  its  owners  to  have  held  the 
possessions  of  John  Carver  on  the  Mayflower. 

Not  only  were  stage-drivers  respected  by  all  per 
sons  in  every  community,  but  they  had  a  high  idea 
of  their  own  dignity  and  of  the  importance  of  their 
calling.  Little  Jack  Mendum,  who  drove  the  Salem 


332  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

mail-coach,  did  not  deem  it  an  exaggeration  of  his 
position  when  he  roared  out  angrily  in  answer  to  a 
hungry  passenger  who  kept  urging  him  to  drive 
faster,  "  When  I  drive  this  coach  I  am  the  whole 
United  States  of  America." 

One  coachman  who  drove  from  Boston  to  Hart 
ford  was  deeply  tanned  by  summer  suns  and  winter 
winds,  and  his  mates  spoke  to  each  other  of  him  as 
Black  Ben.  An  English  traveller,  bustling  out  of 
the  coach  office  with  importance,  shouted  out :  "  I 
and  my  people  want  to  go  with  Black  Ben ;  are  you 
the  coachman  they  call  Black  Ben  ? "  "  Blackguards 
call  me  Black  Ben,"  was  the  answer,  "  but  gentle 
men  call  me  Mr.  Jarvis." 

The  list  of  the  coach-drivers  employed  by  the 
Eastern  Stage  Company  still  exists,  and  has  been 
printed  by  Mr.  Rantoul.  From  it  we  learn  that 
coach-driving  went  by  families — it  was  an  heredi 
tary  calling.  Many  families  had  two  sons  in  this 
work,  there  were  four  Potter  brothers,  three  Acker- 
mans,  and  three  Annables,  all  coachmen.  Their 
names  were  often  curious,  Moses  Caney,  John  Foss, 
Perley  Annable,  Eppes  Potter,  Ben  Savory,  For 
tune  Tozzer. 

Mr.  Miner  writes  thus  of  stage-terms  and  stage- 
horses  :  — 

"  Every  horse  had  a  name.  It  was  '  Git  up,  Jo  ;  gwan, 
boys  or  gals  ;  you  are  shirky,  Bill ;  you  want  touching  up, 
Ben;  if  you  don't  do  better,  Ben,  I'll  swap  you  fora  mule.' 
All  kinds  of  expressions.  Some  drivers  would  fret  a  team 
to  death,  while  others  would  get  over  the  road  and  you 
would  never  hear  hardly  a  loud  word  to  the  team.  It  was 


The  Stage-driver 


333 


just  as  drivers  themselves  were  constituted.  All  kinds  of 
horses  were  used  in  a  stage  team,  runaways,  kickers,  biters, 
and  all  kinds  of  tricksters.  If  the  owners  could  not  man 
age  them  they  went  on  stage  teams,  and  did  good  work, 
and  never  died.  They  were  seldom  sick,  as  they  were 
well-fed  and  groomed,  and  had  quick  time  and  short  trips. 
We  had  some  fine  teams  of  matched  horses,  especially  on 
the  Connecticut  River  roads,  which  would  have  sold  for 
seven  hundred  to  a  thousand 
dollars  a  pair.  The  horses 
were  usually  what  were 
termed  native  horses,  large, 
full  of  muscle  and  gimp,  of 
English  descent." 

It  was  the  testimony 
of  John  Lambert,  an 
English  gentleman  who 
travelled  here  in  the  early 
years  of  this  century,  that 
the  horses  used  on 
coaches  in  all  settled 
parts  of  the  United  States 
were  as  good  as  English 
coach-horses. 

It  serves  to  show  with  force  the  pride  and  vanity 
of  coach  owners  and  drivers  to  be  told  that  on  the 
Boston  and  Salem  line  the  coachmen  sometimes 
attached  false  sweeping  tails  to  the  horses,  to  dress 
them  up  as  it  were  and  put  on  a  good  appearance 
—  this  is  ante-  if  not  anti-docking  days. 

Elaborate  rules  for  coach-driving  are  given  in  old- 
time  and  modern  manuals  of  coaching.  Mr.  Fair- 


Old  Carpet  Bag. 


334  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

man  Rogers's  descriptions  are  the  plainest.  Mr. 
Miner  tells  very  simply  of  the  old  modes  of  driving 
in  his  day  :  — 

"  On  four-horse  teams  were  four  reins.  The  near 
wheel-horse  rein  came  under  the  little  finger  of  left  hand, 
the  leader  over  the  next  finger.  The  off  wheel-horse  rein 
over  third  finger,  right  hand,  leader  over  first  finger.  Six 
horses  would  require  two  more  reins,  and  one  more  finger 
on  each  hand.  Some  drivers  would  wear  mittens,  and  have 
one  rein  over  and  one  under  the  fingers.  These  among 
good  reinsmen  were  called  Dummies  or  old  Farmers.  The 
whip  was  carried  in  the  right  hand,  horizontally  pointing 
to  the  left,  toward  the  ground,  not  as  pictured  at  the  pres 
ent  day.  A  good  driver  who  was  interested  in  his  team 
always  sat  up  straight,  ami  kept  his  reins  and  whip  in  a 
stylish  manner.  He  talked  to  his  horses  as  he  would  to  a 
person.  Every  horse  knew  him  ;  they  knew  him  by  his 
voice  whether  they  were  late  for  cars  or  early,  and  just 
where  to  make  up  time  if  late.  A  driver  of  this  kind  always 
had  a  good  team,  able  to  respond  under  all  conditions." 

Even  the  whip  of  good  drivers  was  of  regulation 
size.  The  rule  of  perfection  was  that  it  should  be 
five  feet  one  and  one-half  inches  from  butt  to  holder 
and  twelve  feet  five  inches  long  from  holder  to  end 
of  point  of  lash — so  it  was  an  imposing  machine. 

On  summer  routes  in  the  mountains  of  New 
Hampshire  the  stage-driver  lingered  long.  Over 
the  backbone  of  Vermont  he  guides  in  our  own 
day  a  few  rusty  coaches. 

Among  the  popular  stage-drivers  of  the  New 
Hampshire  mountains  before  the  advent  of  frequent 
railroads,  were  Charles  Sanborn,  of  Pittsfield,  who 


The  Stage-driver  335 

drove  between  Centre  Harbor  and  West  Ossipee ; 
and  H.  P.  Marden,  who  drove  between  Plymouth 
and  the  Profile  House,  White  Mountains,  during 
the  summer  months ;  and  James  F.  Langdon,  of 
Plymouth,  —  the  three  being  among  the  last  to  give 
up  the  reins  and  the  whip,  when  called  to  that  far 
away  country  "  from  whence  no  traveller  returns." 
In  1 86 1,  Mr.  Sanborn  drove  between  Centre  Harbor 
and  North  Conway,  a  distance  of  thirty-five  miles. 
He  drove  over  that  route  eleven  years,  at  first 
requiring  but  forty  horses,  while  in  1872  no  less 
than  one  hundred  and  twenty  were  in  constant  use, 
besides  a  large  number  of  coaches,  wagons,  and 
sleighs.  On  one  of  his  round  trips,  Mr.  Sanborn 
took  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  passenger 
fares  alone,  while  the  express  business  was  propor 
tionately  large.  Of  course  all  this  seems  small  to 
those  who  know  little  of  the  days  before  railroads 
ran  by  every  man's  dooryard,  but  those  who  have 
"  staged  it "  in  the  old  times  will  understand  what  a 
busy  time  the  driver  on  such  a  route  must  have 
had.  Mr.  Sanborn  was  over  six  feet  in  height  and 
of  Herculean  frame,  his  broad  shoulders  and  sturdy 
gait  betokening  a  strength  which  gave  his  passen 
gers  the  greatest  confidence  in  his  ability  to  carry 
them  safely  through  any  accident.  He  seldom  lost 
his  temper,  even  under  the  most  trying  circum 
stances,  and  was  a  jolly  man  withal.  Major  Lewis 
Downing  of  Concord  tells  me  that  on  his  route 
Sanborn  had  the  good-will  of  every  one,  and  in 
Pittsfield,  where  was  his  home,  he  was  highly  es 
teemed  for  his  sterling  character  and  strict  integrity. 


33  6  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

In  England  the  coachmen  and  coaches  had  an 
Annual  Parade,  a  coaching-day,  upon  the  Royal 
Birthday,  when  coach-horses,  coachmen,  and  guards 
all  were  in  gala  attire.  In  America  similar  annual 
meetings  were  held  in  many  vicinities.  In  Concord, 
New  Hampshire,  which  was  a  great  coaching  centre, 
an  annual  coaching  parade  was  given  in  the  after 
noon  and  a  "  Stagemen's  Ball "  in  the  evening. 
"Knights  of  the  whip"  from  New  Hampshire  and 
neighboring  states  attended  this  festival.  The  ball 
was  held  in  the  celebrated  Grecian  Hall  —  cele 
brated  for  its  spring  floor  —  which  was  built  over 
the  open  carriage-houses  and  woodsheds  attached  to 
the  Eagle  Coffee-house,  called  now  the  Eagle 
Hotel.  This  dancing  hall,  built  in  1827,  took  its 
name  from  the  style  of  its  architecture.  At  one  end 
was  a  great  painting  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
with  Jackson  on  horseback.  It  was  the  rallying- 
point  for  all  great  occasions,  —  caucuses,  conventions, 
concerts,  even  a  six  weeks'  theatrical  season. 

Political  economists  solve  the  problem  of  a  sud 
den  loss  of  one  trade  by  saying  that  others  can  easily 
be  found.  But  it  is  difficult  for  a  man  learned  in 
one  handicraft  to  become  proficient  in  others  ;  and 
it  is  most  difficult  for  the  old  or  even  middle-aged  to 
learn  a  new  trade. 

No  more  melancholy  example  of  an  entire  class 
of  workmen  deprived  of  work  and  subsistence 
through  no  fault  of  their  own  can  be  found  than  in 
these  old  coachmen,  especially  in  England.  Their 
work  left  them  with  astonishing  rapidity,  and  they 
refused  to  realize  the  fact  that  their  occupation  was 


The  Stage-driver 


337 


going  out  of  existence,  and  that  railroads  would 
supersede  coaches.  In  England  the  employment 
of  the  drivers  of  coaches  on  the  railroads  was  almost 
unknown  ;  they  ended  their  days  as  humble  workers 
in  stables  or  as  omnibus  drivers,  or,  worse  still, 
upon  carts  working  on  the  road  ;  sorry  lives  com 
pared  to  the  cheery 
work  on  a  coach.  A 
few  took  to  farming, 
and  made  pretty  poor 
work  of  it. 

In  America,  espe 
cially  in  New  England 
if  they  were  young  and 
strong  and  quick 
witted  enough  to  read 
coming  events  and  ad 
just  themselves  early 
in  the  day  to  altered 
conditions,  they  ob 
tained  positions  on  the 
railroads,  as  brakemen, 
conductors,  ticket- 
sellers,  express-agents, 
depot-masters,  never  as  engineers  —  driving  horses 
does  not  fit  a  man  to  drive  an  engine.  Often  these 
brakemen  and  conductors  advanced  in  position  as 
the  railroads  grew.  It  was  not  unusual  a  decade 
ago  in  the  obituary  notices  of  men  who  had  acquired 
wealth  through  the  railways,  to  read  that  these  men 
had  in  early  life  been  stage-drivers  ;  but  they  were 
usually  men  who  had  amassed  some  capital  before 


Sign  of  David  Reed's  Tavern. 


33  8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

the  era  of  the  railroad,  or  very  young  stage-drivers 
when  steam  carriage  came. 

Benjamin  Pierce  Cheney,  one  of  the  wealthiest 
men  of  Boston,  an  owner  of  vast  railroad  properties, 
founder  of  the  rich  Cheney  Express  Company, 
chief  owner  of  the  American  Express  Company, 
one  of  the  Wells-Fargo  Company,  one  of  the  builders 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  and  other  great  Western 
railroads,  began  his  business  life  a  strong  boy  of 
seventeen  driving  the  coach  from  Exeter,  New 
Hampshire,  to  Nashua.  For  six  years  he  drove 
fifty  miles  every  day ;  then  he  became  stage  agent, 
and  agent  for  the  Lowell  and  Nashua  Railroad,  then 
railroad  owner.  Chester  W.  Chapin  (afterwards 
president  of  the  Boston  and  Albany  Railroad)  ran 
a  stage  line  between  Springfield  and  Hartford. 
The  early  members  of  the  firm  which  formed 
Harnden's  Express  were  nearly  all  connected  with 
stage-coach  lines. 

Certainly  much  consideration  was  shown  the  old 
employees  of  the  stage  roads. 

It  was  said  by  an  old  coachman  of  the  Eastern  Stage 
Company  that  all  its  men  were  given  positions  on 
the  railroads  if  so  desired  ;  "  All  who  wished  had 
something  to  do,"  and  facilities  were  given  them  also 
to  benefit  by  the  new  railroads.  For  instance,  after 
the  steam  cars  were  running  between  Salem  and 
Boston  the  stage-drivers  from  Portsmouth  and  other 
towns  were  given  free  passes  on  the  railroad.  They 
could  thus  go  to  Boston  and  transact  their  old 
"errand-business,"  from  which  they  had  so  much 
profit.  The  fast-growing  express  companies  of 


The  Stage-driver  339 

Harnden  and  Adams  also  employed  many  of  the 
old  workers  on  the  stage-coach  lines.  Some  resisted 
the  new  mode  of  travel.  Major  Shaw  of  Salem 
threatened  to  ruin  the. railroad  with  a  new  opposition 
stage  line,  but  Americans  in  general  have  been  ever 
quicker  to  accept  changes  and  innovations  than  the 
English.  They  were  more  "uptaking,"  as  the  Scotch 
say,  —  that  is,  quicker  to  perceive,  accept,  and  adopt ; 
we  breathe  in  that  trait  with  the  air  of  the  new  world  ; 
so  American  coach  employees  accepted  the  railroad 
and  profited  bv  it. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE    ROMANCE    OF    THE    ROAD 

THE  traveller  in  the  old  stage-coach  was  not 
tantalized  by  the  fleeting  half-glimpse  of 
places  which  we  gain  in  railroad  travel 
to-day.  He  had  ample  time  to  view  any  unusual 
or  beautiful  spot  as  he  passed,  he  had  leisure  to 
make  inquiry  did  he  so  desire,  he  had  also  many 
minutes,  nay  hours,  to  hear  any  traveller's  tale  that 
could  be  told  him  by  a  fellow-journeyer  or  by  the 
driver.  This  last-named  companion,  going  over  the 
stage  road  day  after  day,  talking  constantly,  querying 
frequently,  grew  deeply  versed  in  its  lore,  its  history. 
He  knew  the  gossip,  too,  of  each  house  he  passed, 
he  knew  the  traditions  and  tales  of  each  locality ; 
hence  in  his  company  every  mile  of  the  road  had 
some  point  of  deep  interest. 

Roger  Mowry's  Tavern  was  the  first  one  estab 
lished  in  the  town  of  Providence.  It  escaped 
destruction  in  King  Philip's  War,  when  nearly  all 
the  town  was  burned,  and  stood  till  the  present 
day.  When  a  coach  started  out  from  that  old 
tavern,  it  passed  the  burying  ground  and  a  dense 
growth  of  barberry  bushes  which  grew  along  the 
roadside.  There  seems  to  have  been,  in  many 

340 


The  Romance  of  the  Road  341 

places,  a  suspicion  of  uncanny  reputation  connected 
with  barberry  bushes.  In  one  spot  a  dense  group 
of  bushes  was  said  to  harbor  a  vast  snake ;  in 
another  it  shaded  an  Indian's  grave;  a  third  con 
cealed  a  ghost.  The  barberry  was  not  a  native  of 
America ;  it  is  an  immigrant,  and  has  the  further  ill 
name  of  blasting  any  wheat  near  which  it  is  planted. 
The  grewsome  growth  of  barberry  bushes  near 
Mowry's  Tavern  was  the  scene  of  the  first  serious 
crime  of  the  settlement  of  Providence  Plantations. 
The  town  carpenter,  a  thrifty  and  much  respected 
young  man  named  Clauson,  much  beloved  by  Roger 
Williams,  was  found  dying  one  winter  morning  in 
1660  near  "  a  clump  of  barberry  bushes  "  at  the  part 
ing  of  the  paths  "near  Roger  Mowry's  Tavern."  His 
head  was  cloven  open  with  an  axe,  and  the  dying 
man  accused  a  neighbor  named  Herndon  of  being 
the  instigator  of  the  crime ;  and  with  a  spirit  never 
learned  from  his  old  master,  the  gentle  Williams,  he 
left  a  terrible  curse  upon  the  children  and  children's 
children  of  John  Herndon,  that  they  should  ever 
"  be  marked  with  split  chins  and  be  haunted  by  bar 
berry  bushes."  An  Indian  named  Wanmanitt  was 
arrested  for  having  done  this  terrible  deed,  and  was 
locked  up  in  the  Mowry  Tavern.  He  was  probably 
executed  for  it,  though  the  town  records  only  con 
tain  a  preliminary  story  of  his  trial.  With  bills  for 
interpreters  and  for  a  boat  and  guard  and  powder 
and  shot  and  liquor,  all  to  go  with  the  prisoner  to 
Newport  jail,  the  Indian  murderer  vanishes  down 
the  bay  out  of  history.  John  Herndon  lived  on 
peacefully  for  many  years,  branded,  doubtless,  in  the 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

minds  of  many  ;  but  there  is  no  record  that  the  futile 
imprecation  of  the  dying  man  ever  was  fulfilled. 

As  the  stage-coach  runs  along  through  old  Narra- 
gansett,  it  comes  to  another  scene  of  crime,  of  horri 
ble  crime  and  horrible  punishment  —  that  of  hanging 
in  chains.  This  demoralizing  sight  was  almost  un 
known  in  America.  You  can  scarcely  read  a  tale,  a 
history  of  old  English  life,  without  hearing  of  men 
"  hanging  in  chains."  That  most  popular  of  chil 
dren's  books,  The  Fairchild  Family^  has  a  typical 
English  scene,  wherein  the  solemn  English  father,  in 
order  to  make  his  children  love  each  other  the  more, 
takes  them  through  a  lonely  wood  to  see  the  body 
of  a  man  hanging  in  chains  on  a  gibbet,  a  horrible 
and  revolting  sight.  Travellers  on  the  Portsmouth 
Road  in  England,  after  the  year  1786,  -passed  at 
Hind  Head  a  gibbet  with  three  men  swinging  in 
chains,  three  barbarous  murderers  of  an  unknown 
sailor  —  not  a  pleasant  outlook  for  tired  riders  on 
the  coach.  By  the  old  South  Ferry  in  Narragan- 
sett,  a  man  was  murdered  by  a  fellow-traveller.  At 
the  inn  where  they  had  rested  the  last  night  one  of 
them  spent  on  this  earth,  a  woman  had  dressed  his 
hair,  and  she  noted  a  curious  white  lock  which  grew 
like  our  artist  Whistler's  in  a  thick  head  of  black 
hair.  On  this  single  identification  was  built  a  chain 
of  evidence  which  ended  in  that  unusual  and  terrible 
sight  in  the  new  world,  the  body  of  a  criminal  hang 
ing  in  chains.  It  swung  there  till  the  poor  bones 
dropped  to  the  earth,  and  finally  the  great  chains 
rusted  apart.  Then  schoolboys  took  the  heavy 
links  which  had  bound  a  sight  they  had  not  seen, 


The  Romance  of  the  Road  343 

and  with  equal  bravado  and  apprehension  cracked 
open  their  winter  store  of  hickory  nuts  and  butter 
nuts  with  the  last  emblem  of  an  obsolete  law. 

Not  far  from  this  scene  is  a  crossroads  which 
could  be  viewed  from  the  stage-coach,  but  I  trust 
no  traveller  saw  there  the  execution  of  a  law  as 
obsolete  and  as  barbaric  as  hanging  in  chains. 

For  on  this  crossroads  took  place  several  of  those 
eccentric,  ridiculous  performances  known  as  "  shift- 
marriages."  Any  widow,  about  to  be  married  again, 
could  be  free  from  all  debts  of  her  dead  husband's 
contracting  by  being  married  at  the  crossroads,  "  clad 
only  in  her  shift."  Sometimes  she  was  enjoined  to 
cross  the  King's  Highway  four  times  thus  scantily 
clad. 

George  Hazard,  Justice,  made  entry  in  the  town 
book  of  South  Kingston,  Rhode  Island,  that  Abigail 
Calverwell  on  the  22d  of  February,  1719,  was  taken 
in  marriage  "after  she  had  gone  four  times  across 
the  highway  in  only  her  shift  and  hair  low  and  no 
other  clothing."  Think  of  this  poor  creature,  on 
this  winter's  night,  going  through  such  an  ordeaL 
Another  Narragansett  widow,  Jemima  Hill,  was 
married  at  midnight  "  where  four  roads  meet,"  clad 
only  in  her  shift.  Another  entry  in  a  town  record- 
book  specifies  that  the  bride  had  "  no  other  clothing 
but  shifting  or  smock."  Let  me  hasten  to  add  that 
these  marriages  were  not  peculiar  to  Rhode  Island  ; 
they  took  place  in  many  of  the  colonies,  certainly 
in  Pennsylvania  and  in  all  the  New  England  states. 

As  the  old  Narragansett  coach  sped  on  through 
Connecticut,  it  passed  lonely  spots  which  were  noted 


344  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

for  other  sad  tales  and  traditions,  but  were  ever  of 
keen  interest  to  all  passers-by.  For  at  the  cross 
roads  "  where  four  roads  meet,"  were  buried  sui 
cides,  with  a  stake  thrust  through  the  heart.  This 
was  a  cruel  old  English  and  Dutch  law.  We  learn 
from  Judge  Sewall  all  of  the  public  obloquy  and 
hatred  of  a  suicide  in  Massachusetts.  One  poor 
fellow  found  dead  was  buried  in  disgrace  under  a 
pile  of  stones  at  a  Connecticut  crossroads,  but  the 
brand  of  self-destruction  was  taken  from  him  at  a 
later  date,  when  much  evidence  was  secured  that  he 
was  murdered. 

If  our  Narragansett  coach  went  over  the  Ridge 
Hill,  the  driver  surely  pointed  out  the  spot  where 
a  lover  once  hid  his  coach  and  horses  till  there  rode 
up  from  a  bridle-path  near  by  the  beauty  of  Nar 
ragansett,  "  Unhappy  Hannah  Robinson,"  who 
jumped  from  her  horse  into  the  coach  and  drove 
off  headlong  to  Providence  to  be  married.  An 
elopement  should  end  happily,  but  the  adjective  ever 
attached  to  her  name  tells  the  tale  of  disappoint 
ment,  and  it  was  not  many  years  ere  she  was  borne 
back,  deserted  and  dying,  lying  on  a  horse-litter,  to 
the  spacious  old  home  of  her  childhood,  which  is 
still  standing.  And  one  day  down  this  road  there 
came  hotly  lashing  his  horses  a  gay  young  fellow 
driving  tandem  a  pair  of  Narragansett  pacers,  and 
he  scarcely  halted  at  the  tavern  as  he  asked  for  the 
home  and  whereabouts  of  the  parson.  But  the 
tavern  loungers  peeped  under  the  chariot-hood  and 
saw  a  beautiful  blushing  girl,  and  they  stared  at  a 
vast,  yawning,  empty  portmanteau,  strapped  by  a 


The  Romance  of  the   Road  345 

single  handle  to  the  chariot's  back.  And  soon  two 
angry  young  men,  the  bride's  brothers,  rode  up 
after  the  elopers,  who  had  been  tracked  by  the 
articles  of  the  bride's  hastily  gathered  outfit  which 
had  been  strewn  from  the  open  portmanteau  along 
the  road  in  the  lovers'  hasty  flight.  Who  that 
rides  on  a  railway  car  ever  hears  anything  about 
elopements  or  such  romances  !  Parson  Flagg,  of 
Chester,  Vermont,  made  his  home  a  sort  of  Yankee 
Gretna  Green  ;  the  old  stage-drivers  could  tell  plenty 
of  stories  of  elopers  on  saddle  and  pillion  who  rode 
to  his  door. 

The  traveller  by  the  coach  learned  constant  les 
sons  from  that  great  teacher,  Nature.  Even  if  he 
were  city  bred  he  grew  to  know,  as  he  saw  them, 
the  various  duties  of  country  life,  the  round  of  work 
on  the  farm,  the  succession  of  crops,  the  names  of 
grains,  and  he  knew  each  grain  and  grass  when  he 
saw  it,  which  few  of  city  life  do  now.  He  saw  the 
timid  flight  of  wild  creatures,  rabbits,  woodchucks, 
squirrels,  sometimes  a  wily  fox.  My  father  once, 
riding  on  a  stage-coach  in  Vermont,  chased  down  a 
mountain  road  a  young  deer  that  ran,  bewildered, 
before  its  terrible  pursuer.  At  night  the  traveller 
heard  strange  sounds,  owls  and  a  smothered  snarl  as 
the  coach  entered  the  woods  —  a  catamount  perhaps. 
He  heard  the  singing  birds  of  spring  and  noted  the 
game-birds  of  autumn  ;  and  in  winter  they  could 
watch  the  broad  and  beautiful  flight  of  the  crows, 
free  in  snowy  woods  and  fields  from  the  rivalry  of 
all  fellow  feathered  creatures.  He  saw  the  proces 
sion  of  wild  flowers,  though  he,  perhaps,  did  not 


> 


346 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


consciously  heed  them,  and  he  knew  the  trees  by 
name.  The  stage-driver  showed  his  passengers  "  the 
biggest  ellum  in  the  county,"  and  "  the  best  grove 
of  sugar-maples  in  the  state."  He  pointed  out 
a  lovely  vista  of  white  birches  as  "  the  purtiest  grove 


A  Vista  of  White  Birches. 

o'  birch  on  the  road,"  and  there  was  a  dense  grove 
of  mulberry  trees,  the  sole  survivors  of  silk-worm 
culture  in  which  were  buried  so  many  hours  and 
years  of  hard  labor,  so  much  hard-earned  capital,  so 
many  feverish  hopes.  And  towering  a  giant  among 
lesser  brothers,  a  glorious  pine  tree  still  showing  the 
mark  of  the  broad  arrow  of  the  King,  chosen  to  be  a 


The  Romance  of  the  Road  347 

mast  for  his  great  ships,  but  living  long  after  he  was 
dead  and  his  ships  were  sunken  and  rotten,  living  to 
be  a  king  itself  in  a  republican  land. 

The  foot-farer,  trudging  along  the  outskirts  of 
the  village,  is  often  shut  out  by  close  stone  or  board 
barriers  from  any  sight  of  the  flowering  country 
gardens,  the  luxuriance  of  whose  blossoming  is 
promised  by  the  heads  of  the  tall  hollyhocks  that 
bend  over  and  nod  pleasantly  to  him;  but  the  trav 
eller  on  the  coach  could  see  into  these  old  gardens, 
could  feast  his  eyes  on  all  the  glorious  tangle  of 
larkspur  and  phlox,  of  tiger  lilies  and  candytuft,  of 
snowballs  and  lilacs,  of  marigolds  and  asters,  each 
season  outdoing  the  other  in  brilliant  bloom. 

And  what  odors  were  wafted  out  from  those 
gardens !  What  sweetness  came  from  the  lilacs 
and  deutzias  and  syringas  ;  from  clove-pinks  and 
spice  bush  and  honeysuckles  ;  how  weird  was  the 
anise-like  scent  of  the  fraxinella  or  dittany ;  and 
how  often  all  were  stifled  by  the  box,  breathing, 
says  Holmes,  the  fragrance  of  eternity  !  The  great 
botanist  Linnaeus  grouped  the  odors  of  plants  and 
flowers  into  classes,  of  which  three  were  pleasing 
perfumes.  To  these  he  gave  the  titles  the  aro 
matic,  the  fragrant,  the  ambrosial  —  our  stage 
coach  traveller  had  them  all  three. 

From  the  fields  came  the  scent  of  flowering  buck 
wheat  and  mellifluous  clover,  and  later  of  new- 
mown  hay,  sometimes  varied  by  the  tonic  breath  of 
the  salt  hay  on  the  sea  marshes.  The  orchards 
wafted  the  perfumes  from  apple  blossoms,  and  from 
the  pure  blooms  of  cherry  and  plum  and  pear ;  in 


348 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 


the  woods  the  beautiful  wild  cherries  equalled  their 
domestic  sisters. 

How  sweet,  how  healthful,  were  the  cool  depths 
of  the  pine  woods,  how  clean   the   hemlock,  spruce, 


The  Hollyhocks'  Promise. 


fir,  pine,  and  juniper,  and  how  sweet  and  balsamic 
their  united  perfume.  And  from  the  woods  and 
roadsides  such  varied  sweetness  !  The  faint  hint 
of  perfume  from  the  hidden  arbutus  in  early  spring, 
and  the  violet ;  the  azalea  truly  ambrosial  with  its 


The  Romance  of  the  Road  349 

pure  honey-smell ;  the  intense  cloying  clethra  with 
the  strange  odor  of  its  bruised  foliage  ;  the  meadow 
sweet  ;  the  strong  perfume  of  the  barberry ;  and 
freshest,  purest,  best  of  all,  the  bayberry  throwing 
off  balm  from  every  leaf  and  berry.  Even  in  the 
late  autumn  the  scent  of  the  dying  brakes  and  ferns 
were  as  beloved  by  the  country-lover  as  the  fresh 
smell  of  the  upturned  earth  in  the  spring  after  the 
farmer's  plough,  or  the  scent  of  burning  brush. 

Fruit  odors  came  too  to  the  happy  traveller,  the 
faint  scent  of  strawberries,  the  wild  strawberry  the 
most  spicy  of  all,  and  later  of  the  dying  strawberry 
leaves  ;  even  the  strong  and  pungent  onions  are  far 
from  offensive  in  the  open  air ;  while  the  rich 
fruity  smell  of  great  heaps  of  ripe  apples  in  the 
orchards  is  carried  farther  by  the  acid  vapors  from 
the  cider  mills,  which  tempt  the  driver  to  stop  and 
let  all  taste  new  apple-juice. 

In  the  days  of  the  stage-coach  we  had  on  our 
summer  journeys  all  these  delights,  the  scents  of 
the  wood,  the  field,  the  garden  ;  we  had  the  genial 
sunlight,  the  fresh  air  of  mountain,  plain,  and  sea  ; 
and  all  the  wild  and  beautiful  sights  which  made 
the  proper  time  for  travel  —  the  summer — truly 
joyful.  Now  we  may  enjoy  a  place  when  we  get 
there,  but  we  have  a  poor  substitute  for  the  coach 
for  the  actual  travelling  —  a  dirty  railway  car  heated 
almost  to  tinder  by  the  sun,  with  close  foul  air  (and 
the  better  the  car  the  fouler  and  closer  the  air) 
filled,  if  we  try  to  have  fresh  air,  with  black  smoke 
and  cinders  ;  clattering  and  noisy  ever,  with  occa 
sional  louder-shrieking  whistles  and  bells,  and  some- 


350  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

times  a  horrible  tunnel  —  it  has  but  one  redeem 
ing  quality,  its  speed,  for  thereby  the  journey  is 
shortened. 

Cheerful  friends  on  the  old  roads  were  the  mile 
stones  and  guideposts.  Milestones  had  an  assured 
position  in  social  life,  a  dignified  standing.  It  would 
be  told  of  a  road  as  a  great  honor  and  distinction, 


Taylor's  Tavern,    1777.      Danbury,  Connecticut. 

and  told  fitly  in  capitalized  sentences  thus,  "  This 
Elegant  road  is  fully  Set  with  well-cut  Milestones." 
A  few  of  the  old  provincial  milestones  remain,  and 
put  us  closely  in  touch  with  the  past.  In  Governor 
Hutchinson's  day  milestones  were  set  on  all  the 
post-roads  throughout  Massachusetts.  Several  of 
these  are  still  standing ;  one  is  in  Worcester,  in  the 
heart  of  the  city,  marked  "42  Mis.  to  Boston,  50 


The   Romance  of  the   Road 


351 


Mis.  to  Springfield,  1771."  Another  is  in  Sutton. 
It  is  five  feet  high  and  nearly  three  feet  wide.  It  is 
marked  "48  mis.  to  Boston.  B.  W."  The  letters 
B.  W.  stand  for  Bartholomew  Woodbury,  a  genial 
tavern-keeper  of  Sutton.  It  shows  a  custom  which 
obtained  at  that  date.  It  was  deemed  most  ad 
vantageous  to  a  tavern  to  have  a  milestone  in  front 
of  it.  Possibly  the  tale  of  the  stone  shown  in  its 
lettering  urged  wayworn  travellers  to  halt  and  rest 
within  the  welcoming  door.  Bartholomew  Wood- 
bury's  Tavern  was 
a  few  rods  from  the 
spot  marked  for  the 
stone,  but  the  gov 
ernment  permitted 
him  to  set  this  stone 
by  his  doorside,  at 
his  own  expense, 
beside  the  great 
horse-block.  Tav 
ern-keeper  and  tav 
ern  are  gone,  and 
the  old  road  sees 
few  travellers.  Oc 
casionally  some 
passer-by,  inquisi 
tive  like  myself  of 
the  presence  of  the  old  stone,  will  halt  as  did  the 
traveller  of  old,  and  pull  away  the  curtain  of  vines, 
and  read  the  lettering  of  this  gravestone  of  the  old 
Woodbury  Tavern. 

Another  landlord  who  appreciated  that  the  mile- 


M.  M.  Taylor's  Milestone. 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


stone  served  as  a  magnet  to  draw  customers  to  the 
tavern  taproom  was  Landlord  Taylor,  who  kept  the 
old  tavern  known  as  "  Taylor's,"  in  Danbury,  Con 
necticut.  The  house  with  the  milestone  is  shown 
on  page  350  and  the  milestone  alone  on  page  351. 

Judge  Peleg  Arnold  was  one  of  the  most  active 
patriots  in  northern  Rhode  Island  during  the  Revo 
lution  ;  for  many  years  he  carried  on  a  tavern  at 

Union  Village,  a  sub 
urb  of  Woonsocket, 
and  his  house  was 
noted  for  its  excellence 
and  hospitality.  Not 
far  from  his  tavern  to 
the  northward  the 
"Great  Road"  from 
Smithfield  into  Men- 
don  wound  through 
woods  and  meadows 
and  over  the  northern 
hills  of  Rhode  Island. 
In  1666  this  great 
road  was  a  small  foot 
path  through  the  woods,  and  was  indicated  by 
marked  trees  leading  from  cabin  to  cabin  ;  but  in 
1733  it  had  taken  upon  itself  the  dignity  of  a  cart- 
path  and  then  became  the  subject  of  discussions  on 
town-meeting  days.  Peleg  Arnold  had  been  one 
of  the  men  to  re-lay  the  old  road,  and  it  was  near 
the  northern  boundary  of  his  farm  that  he  set  up 
the  old  milestone  shown  here.  For  more  than  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  years  this  stone  has  served 


Peleg  Arnold's  Milestone. 


The  Romance  of  the  Road  353 

to  brighten  the  hearts  of  travellers,  for  they  have 
learned  to  know  that  this  silent  and  inanimate  guide 
can  be  relied  upon  as  to  distances  with  much  more 
certainty  than  can  the  words  of  residents  in  the 
neighborhood. 

When  Benjamin  Franklin  was  Postmaster-general, 
he  set  an  indelible  postmark  in  many  ways  on  the 
history  of  our  country  ;  and  many  mementos  of 
him  still  exist.  Among  them  are  the  old  mile 
stones  set  under  his  supervision.  He  transacted 
this  apparently  prosaic  business  with  that  pictu 
resque  originality  which  he  brought  to  all  his  doings 
and  which  renders  to  every  detail  of  his  life  an 
interest  which  cannot  be  exceeded  and  scarcely 
equalled  by  the  events  recorded  of  any  other  figure 
in  history. 

He  drove  over  the  roads  which  were  to  be  marked 
by  milestones,  seated  in  a  comfortable  chaise,  of  his 
own  planning,  and  followed  by  a  gang  of  men,  and 
heavy  carts  laden  with  the  milestones.  Attached  to 
the  chaise  was  a  machine  of  his  invention  which 
registered  by  the  revolution  of  the  wheels  the  num 
ber  of  miles  the  chaise  passed  over.  At  each  mile 
he  halted,  and  a  stone  was  dropped  which  was  after 
ward  set.  The  King's  Highway,  the  old  Pequot 
Trail,  was  thus  marked  and  set.  A  few  of  these 
milestones  between  Boston  and  Philadelphia  are 
still  standing,  one  in  New  London,  another  at  Strat 
ford,  and  are  glanced  at  carelessly  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  who  glide  swiftly  past  on  wheels 
bearing  more  accurate  cyclometers  than  that  of 
Franklin. 


2A 


354  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

Guide-boards  always  stood  at  the  crossings  of  all 
travelled  roads  ;  indeed,  they  stood  where  the  roads 
were  scarce  more  than  lines  among  the  grass  and 
low  shrubs.  Since  our  day  of  many  railroads,  and 
above  all,  since  the  interlacing  network  of  trolley 
lines  has  spread  over  all  our  Eastern  lands  where 
once  the  stage-coach  ran,  many  guide-boards  have 
disappeared  and  have  not  been  replaced.  You  find 
them  often  at  the  angles  of  the  road  lying  flat  in 
grass  and  bushes ;  or  standing  split,  one-sided, 
askew,  pointing  the  road  to  the  skies,  or  nowhere. 
When  in  trim  and  good  repair  in  the  days  of  their 
utility  and  helpfulness,  they  were  friendly  things, 
and  the  pointing  hand  gave  them  a  half-human 
semblance  of  cheerful  aid.  Where  the  road  led 
through  woods  or  rarely  frequented  ways,  they 
were  friends  indeed,  for  all  ways  looked  alike,  and 
one  might  readily  go  far  astray.  The  mile  of  the 
guide-board  was  an  elastic  one,  and  sometimes  a 
weary  one. 

Guide-boards,  even  poor  ones,  are  still  most  wel 
come.  No  one  in  the  country  ever  has  any  cor 
rect  estimate  of  distances  ;  a  distance  "  a  little  better 
than  three  miles  "  before  you  usually  increases  by 
an  extraordinary  law  instead  of  decreases  after  you 
have  driven  nearly  a  mile  to  "  about  four  mile." 
The  next  road-jogger  says  "nigh  on  to  a  mile"; 
and  then  you  may  be  sure  a  few  hundred  feet  farther 
on  to  jump  back  to  a  slow  and  wise  rejoinder  of 
the  original  distance,  "  hard  on  to  four  mile." 

Another  wayside  friend  of  the  traveller  in  coaching 
days  was  the  watering  trough.  It  was  frequently  a 


The   Romance  of  the   Road 


355 


log  of  wood  hollowed  out,  Indian  fashion,  like  a 
dug-out,  filled  with  the  lavish  bounty  of  untram 
melled  Nature  by  a  cool  pure  rill  from  a  hillside 
spring.  One  of  these  watering  troughs  is  shown 
on  this  page.  In  the  days  of  the  glory  of  the 
stage-coach  and  turnpike,  fine  stone  troughs  chiselled 
like  an  Egyptian  sarcophagus  took  the  place  of  the 


The  Watering  Trough. 

log  dug-out.  They  had  their  supply  from  a 
handled  pump,  which  was  a  more  prosaic  vehicle 
than  the  pipe  made  of  hollowed  tree-trunks  which 
brought  the  spring-water ;  but  it  had  also  a  certain 
interest  as  the  water  spouted  out  in  response  to  the 
vigorous  pumping,  and  it  has  been  immortalized  by 
Hawthorne.  Our  artesian  wells,  and  sunken  pipes, 
and  vast  reservoir  systems  are  infinitely  better  than 
the  old-time  modes  of  water  supply,  but  we  miss  the 


356  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

pleasure  that  came  from  the  sight  of  the  water, 
whether  it  was  borne  to  us  on  the  picturesque  well- 
sweep  by  wheel  and  bucket,  or  old  chain  pump  ;  it 
was  good  to  look  at  as  well  as  to  taste,  and  it  re 
freshed  man  even  to  see  cattle  and  horses  drinking 
from  the  primitive  trough. 

There  is  always  something  picturesque  and  pleas 
ant  in  an  old  bridge,  and  of  historic  associations  as 
well.  The  great  logs  such  as  form  a  wooden  bridge 
over  a  narrow  stream  are  the  most  natural  water- 
spans,  those  of  the  primitive  savages.  By  fallen 
tree-trunks  placed  or  utilized  by  the  Indians,  the 
colonists  first  crossed  the  inland  streams,  adding 
parallel  trunks  as  years  passed  on  and  helping 
hands  multiplied ;  and  finally  placing  heavy,  flat 
cross-timbers  and  boards  when  hand-saws  and  saw 
mills  shaped  the  forests'  wealth  for  domestic  use. 

The  old  arched  stone  bridges  are  ever  a  delight 
to  the  eye  and  the  thoughtful  mind.  Look  at  the 
picture  of  the  old  Topsfield  Bridge  shown  on  the 
opposite  page.  It  was  built  in  1760  over  the  Ipswich 
River.  It  shows  the  semicircle  —  simplest  of  all 
arched  forms  —  which  is  happily  within  the  compass 
and  ever  the  selection  of  rustic  builders.  The 
shallow  voussoirs  speak  of  security  and  economy 
rather  than  of  monumental  effect ;  the  irregular 
shape  and  size  of  the  stones  tell  a  similar  tale,  that 
there  was  ample  and  fitting  material  near  by,  in 
every  field.  The  arched  stone  bridge  is  a  primitive 
structure ;  the  sort  of  construction  that  may  be 
found  in  the  so-called  "  Cyclopean  "  walls  of  earliest 
Greece  ;  and  this  very  simplicity  is  u  distinct  beauty, 


The  Romance  of  the   Road 


357 


that,  added  to  its  fitness  and  durability,  makes  the 
bridge  a  thing  of  satisfaction. 

How  charming  are  the  reflections   in    the    stilly 
waters,  the  arch  making  the  perfect  circle,  ever  an 


Topsfield  Bridge. 


attractive  and  symbolic  form.  How  cool  and 
beautiful  is  the  shadowy  water  under  these  stone 
arches  ;  but  it  cannot  be  reached  by  the  rider  in 
stage-coach  or  on  horseback,  as  can  the  brook 
spanned  by  a  wooden  bridge.  This  has  often  a 


358  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

watering  place  which  spreads  out  on  one  side 
of  the  road,  a  shoal  pool  of  clear,  crystal,  dancing 
water.  The  bottom  is  cut  with  the  ruts  of  travellers' 
wheels,  but  the  water  is  pure  and  glistening;  the 
pool  is  edged  heavily  with  mint  and  thoroughwort 
and  a  tangle  of  greenery  pierced  with  a  few  glorious 
scarlet  spires  of  cardinal  flowers,  and  some  duller 
blooms.  How  boys  love  to  wade  in  these  pools, 
and  dogs  to  swim  in  them,  and  horses  to  drink  from 
them.  The  wooden  bridge  seems  in  midsummer  a 
useless  structure,  fit  only  to  serve  as  a  trellis  for 
clematis  and  sweet  brier  and  many  running  vines, 
and  to  be  screened  with  azalea,  clethra,  and  elder, 
and  scores  of  sweet-flowered  shrubs  that  add  their 
scent  to  the  strong  odor  of  mint  that  fills  the  air,  as 
the  sensitive  leaves  are  bruised  by  careless  contact. 

There  was  a  closeness  of  association  in  stage 
coach  travel  which  made  fellow-passengers  compan 
ionable.  One  would  feel  a  decided  intimacy  with 
a  fel low-sufferer  who  had  risen  several  mornings  in 
succession  with  you,  at  daybreak,  and  ridden  all 
night,  cheek  by  jowl.  Even  fellow-travellers  on 
short  trips  entered  into  conversation,  and  the  char 
acteristic  inquisitiveness  was  shown.  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  took  great  delight  in  this  experience  of  his 
in  stage-coach  travel.  A  sharp-featured,  keen-eyed, 
elderly  Yankee  woman  rode  in  a  Vermont  coach 
opposite  a  woman  deeply  veiled  and  garbed  in 
mourning  attire,  and  the  older  woman  thus  entered 
into  conversation  :  "  Have  you  lost  friends  ? " 
"  Yes/'  was  the  answer,  "  I  have."  "  Was  they 
near  friends?"  "Yes,  they  was."  "How  near 


The  Shadowy  Water  under  the  Arches. 


The   Romance  of  the   Road  359 

was  they  ?  "    "  A  husband  and  a  brother."   "Where 
did  they  die  ?  '      "  Down  in   Mobile."     "  What  did 
they  die  of?"      "Yellow  fever."     "How  long  was 
they  sick  ?  "      "  Not  very  long."      "  Was  they  sea 
faring  men  ?  "      "  Yes,  they  was."     "  Did  you  save 
their  chists  ?  "      "  Yes,  I   did."     "  Was  they  hope 
fully  pious  ?  "      "  I  hope  so."      "  Well,  if  you   have 
got  their  chists  (with  emphasis)  and  they  was  hope 
fully  pious,  you've  got  much   to  be  thankful  for." 
Perhaps    this   conversation    should    be   recorded   in 
the    succeeding    chapter,    but    in    truth   the    pleas 
ures  and  pains  of  stage-coach  travel  ran  so  closely 
side    by    side    that    they    can    scarce    be    separated. 
Many  pleasant    intimacies    and   acquaintances  were 
begun   on   the   stage-coach ;   flirtations,  even   court 
ships,   were    carried    on.      One    gentleman    remem 
bers  that  when  he  was  a  big  schoolboy  he  rode  on 
the    coach    from     Pittsfield,     New     Hampshire,    to 
Dover,  and  he  cast  sheep's-eyes  at  a  pretty  young 
woman  who  was  a  fellow-passenger.      He  had  just 
gathered  courage  to    address   her  with    some  bold, 
manly    remark    when     the     coach    stopped    and    a 
middle-aged  man  of  importance  entered.     Soon  all 
other   passengers   got   out  and    the  three  were   left 
in  the  coach  ;     and    the    Boy   heard    the    Man    re 
call  himself  to   the  Girl  as  having  been  her  teacher 
when    she   was    a    child.       He    soon    proceeded    to 
make    love    to    her,   and    made   her   a   proposal   of 
marriage,  which    she   did   not   refuse,    but   asked   a 
week's   time    to    consider.       "And    during   all    this 
courting,"  said  my  informant,  with  indignant  remi 
niscence  after  fifty  years,  "  they  paid  no  more  atten- 


360  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

tion  to  my  presence  than  if  I  had  been  Pickwick's 
Fat  Boy." 

The  pleasures  of  coaching  days  have  been  written 
by  many  an  English  author  in  forcible  and  beautiful 
language.  Thomas  De  Quincey  sang  in  most  glow 
ing  speech  the  glories  of  the  English  mail-coach. 
He  says  :  — 

"  Modern  modes  of  travelling  cannot  compare  with  the 
old  mail-coach  system  in  grandeur  and  power.  They 
boast  of  more  velocity,  not,  however,  as  a  consciousness, 
but  as^  a  fact  of  our  lifeless  knowledge,  resting  upon  alien 
evidence  ;  as,  for  instance,  because  somebody  says  that  we 
have  gone  fifty  miles  in  the  hour,  though  we  are  far  from  feel 
ing  it  as  a  personal  experience ;  or  upon  the  evidence  of  a 
result,  as  that  we  actually  find  ourselves  in  York  four 
hours  after  leaving  London.  Apart  from  such  an  assertion, 
or  such  a  result,  I  myself  am  little  aware  of  the  pace. 
But  seated  on  the  old  mail-coach  we  needed  no  evidence 
out  of  ourselves  to  indicate  the  velocity.  .  .  .  The  vital 
experiences  of  the  glad  animal  sensibilities  made  doubts 
impossible  on  the  question  of  our  speed.  We  heard  our 
speed,  we  saw  it,  we  felt  it  a-thrilling ;  and  this  speed  was 
not  the  product  of  blind  insensate  energies  that  had  no 
sympathy  to  give,  but  was  incarnated  in  the  fiery  eyeballs 
of  the  noblest  among  brutes,  in  his  dilated  nostril,  his 
spasmodic  muscles  and  thunder-beating  hoofs." 

Nothing  more  magnificent  and  inspiring  could 
be  written  than  his  Going  Down  with  Victory  —  the 
carrying  the  news  of  the  victory  at  Waterloo  on 
the  mail-coach  to  English  hamlets  and  towns  ;  it  is 
a  gem  of  English  literature. 


CHAPTER   XV11 

THE    PAINS    OF    STAGE-COACH    TRAVEL 

IN  describing  the  pleasures  and  pains,  the  delights 
and  dangers,  the  virtues  and  vicissitudes  of  the 
travel  of  early  days  by  stage-coach  in  America, 
I  have  chosen  to  employ  largely  the  words  and 
descriptions  of  contemporary  travellers  rather  than 
any  wording  of  my  own,  not  only  because  any 
such  description  of  mine  would  be  simply  a  tran 
scription  of  their  facts,  but  because  there  is  a  sense 
of  closeness  of  touch,  a  pleasant  intimacy,  and 
indeed  a  profound  sympathy  thereby  established 
with  those  old  travellers  and  modes  of  travel  which 
cannot  be  obtained  by  modern  wording;  nor  indeed 
can  their  descriptions  and  travellers'  tales  be  im 
proved.  Careless  or  ignorant  writers  often  portray 
early  stage-coach  travel  in  America  in  the  same 
terms  as  would  be  used  of  similar  travel  in  England, 
and  as  having  the  same  accessories ;  it  was  in  truth 
very  different  in  nearly  all  of  its  conditions,  as  dif 
ferent  as  were  the  vehicles  used  in  America. 

I  do  not  believe  that  travellers  in  coaching  days 
found  much  pleasure  in  long  journeys  by  stage 
coach.  They  doubtless  enjoyed  short  trips,  or 
possibly  a  day  on  a  coach,  as  we  do  now,  but 

361 


362  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

serious  travel  was  serious  indeed.  In  winter  it 
must  have  appeared  a  slow  form  of  lingering  death. 
Grant  Thorburn,  the  New  York  seedsman,  tells 
of  the  first  journey  he  ever  made  by  land.  It  was  in 
the  winter  of  1 83 1 ;  he  was  then  fifty-eight  years  old. 

"  We  left  Hoboken  with  about  fifteen  passengers  closely 
packed  in  a  stage  with  wheels,  and  a  very  neat  coach,  and 
so  foolish  was  I  and  ignorant  (never  having  travelled  on 
land)  I  thought  this  same  fine  close  carriage  would  go 
through  thick  and  thin  with  me  all  the  way  to  Albany  : 
in  two  short  hours  my  eyes  were  opened.  We  stopped  in 
Hackensack  at  a  tavern  grocery  grogshop  and  post-office 
all  under  one  roof,  for  we  carried  Uncle  Sam's  letter  bags, 
which  was  another  grievance,  as  we  had  to  stop  every  few 
miles  to  change  the  mails.  The  keeper  of  the  office  began 
to  bluster  and  swear  he  had  neither  carriages  covered  or 
uncovered  to  forward  so  many  passengers.  He  said  the 
Jockey  Club  in  New  York  took  all  the  money  and  gave 
him  all  the  trouble.  In  short,  says  he,  unless  you  remain 
here  till  four  o'clock  P.M.  you  must  go  on  with  such 
conveyance  as  I  can  furnish.  We  applied  to  our  Hoboken 
driver.  He  said  his  orders  were  to  drop  us  at  Hacken 
sack  and  bring  back  the  coaches ;  and  sure  enough  he 
turned  about  and  back  he  went.  I  stepped  into  the  bar 
room  —  a  large  place.  In  the  centre  stood  a  large  old- 
fashioned  tin-plate  stove,  surrounded  by  fifteen  or  twenty 
large  lazy  fellows.  After  waiting  an  hour  we  were  sent  for 
ward,  viz.  two  in  an  open  chair,  four  in  an  open  wagon,  and 
the  remainder,  eight  I  think,  in  a  common  Jersey  farming 
wagon,  all  the  machines  being  without  covers.  It  now 
commenced  raining,  and  by  the  time  we  got  to  the  next 
stage,  we  looked  like  moving  pillars  of  salt,  our  hats  and 
coats  being  covered  to  the  thickness  of  an  eighth  of  an  inch 
with  ice  transparents.  At  the  town  of  Goshen  we  changed 


The  Pains  of  Stage-coach  Travel         363 

the  mail,  thawed  our  garments,  and  ate  our  dinner.  As  we 
got  north  the  sleighing  got  better,  so  we  were  accommo 
dated  with  a  covered  box  and  runners,  but  alas  !  it  was 
like  the  man's  lantern  without  a  candle.  The  cover  was 
of  white  wood  boards  placed  a  quarter  of  an  inch  apart 
without  paint,  leather,  or  canvas  to  protect  them  from  the 
weather. 

"  We  travelled  all  night.  The  rain  and  snow  descend 
ing  through  the  roof,  our  hats  were  frozen  to  our  capes, 
and  our  cloaks  to  one  another.  In  the  morning  we  looked 
like  some  mountain  of  ice  moving  down  the  Gulf  Stream. 
I  thought  the  machine  used  at  the  Dry  Dock  would  have 
been  an  excellent  appendage  to  have  lifted  us  bodily  into 
the  breakfast  room  :  and  this  is  what  the  horse-flesh  frater 
nity  in  New  York  advertise  as  their  safe,  cheap,  cotnfortable, 
and  expeditious  winter  establishment  for  Albany." 

This  latter  account  is  certainly  a  hard  blow  to  the 
lover  of  the  "  good  old  times."  Of  tough  fibre 
and  of  vast  powers  of  endurance,  both  mental  and 
physical,  must  have  been  our  grandfathers  who  dared 
to  travel  overland  in  winter  time.  Coaches  were 
often  "  snowed  up  "  and  had  to  be  deserted  by  the 
passengers,  who  were  rescued  in  old  pods  and  pungs, 
such  as  are  shown  on  pages  316  and  318,  and  the 
journey  had  to  be  continued  in  some  of  the  awkward 
coach-bodies  or  "boobies"  set  on  runners  like  those 
on  pages  362  and  364.  Coaches  were  also  over 
turned  or  blown  off  bridges  by  heavy  winds. 

Somewhat  varied  was  Captain  Hall's  experience 
on  the  trip  from  Fredericksburg  to  Richmond  dur 
ing  the  following  January.  The  stage-coach  was 
appointed  to  start  at  2  A.M.,  but  at  the  blank  looks 
of  the  captain,  the  stage  agent  said,  "  Well,  if  it  is 


364 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


so  disagreeable  to  the  ladies,  suppose  we  make  it 
five  ?  "  The  fare  was  five  dollars.  It  took  seven 
teen  hours  to  travel  the  sixty-six  miles,  and  the 
coach  stopped  at  ten  taverns  on  the  way.  At  each 
his  fellow-passengers  all  got  out  and  took  a  mint 


Chepachet  Winter  Stage. 

julep  ;  perhaps  he  did  likewise,  which  might  account 
for  the  fact  that  he  pronounced  the  trip  a  pleasant 
one,  though  it  rained;  "your  feet  get  wet;  your 
clothes  become  plastered  with  mud  from  the  wheel ; 
the  trunks  drink  in  half  a  gallon  of  water  apiece ; 
the  gentlemen's  boots  and  coats  steamed  in  the  con 
fined  air ;  the  horses  are  draggled  and  chafed  by  the 
traces;  the  driver  got  his  neckcloth  saturated"  — 


The  Pains  of  Stage-coach  Travel         365 

and  yet,  he  adds,  <c  the  journey  was  performed 
pleasantly." 

There  were  days  in  July,  in  midsummer,  when  in 
spite  of  the  beauties  of  Nature,  the  journey  by  stage 
coach  on  the  unwatered  roads  was  not  a  thing  of 
pleasure.  Whether  on  "  inside  "  or  "  outside,"  the 
traveller  could  not  escape  the  dust,  nor  could  he 
escape  the  fervor  of  the  July  sun.  And  when  the 
eye  turned  for  relief  to  green  pastures  and  roadsides, 
there  was  reflected  back  to  him  the  heated  gold  of  the 
sunlight,  for  the  fields  flamed  with  yellow  and  orange 
color.  Sometimes  accidents  occurred.  One  may  be 
described,  using  the  contemporary  account  of  it  to 
show  what  danger  was  incurred  and  through  what 
motive  powers.  In  January,  1823,  there  was  a 
sharp  competition  between  the  two  stage  lines  run 
ning  between  Albany  and  New  York,  and  appar 
ently  the  stage-drivers  on  the  rival  lines  could 
no  more  be  kept  from  racing  than  the  old-time 
steamboat  captain.  The  accident  was  thus  told  in 
a  newspaper  of  the  day  :  — 

"  To  the  Public :    The  stage  from  New  York  to  Albany 

O  J 

was  overset  on  the  Highlands,  on  Friday  last,  with  six  pas 
sengers  on  board  ;  one  of  whom,  a  gentleman  from  Vermont, 
had  his  collar-bone  broken,  and  the  others  were  more  or 
less  injured,  and  all  placed  in  the  utmost  jeopardy  of  their 
lives  and  limbs  by  the  outrageous  conduct  of  the  driver.  In 
descending  a  hill  half  a  mile  in  length,  an  opposition  stage 
being  ahead,  the  driver  put  his  horses  in  full  speed  to  pass 
the  forward  stage,  and  in  this  situation  the  stage  overset 
with  a  heavy  crash  which  nearly  destroyed  it,  and  placed 
the  wounded  passengers  in  a  dreadful  dilemma,  especially 


3 66  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

as  the  driver  could  not  assist  them,  as  it  required  all  his 
efforts  to  restrain  the  frighted  horses  from  dashing  down 
the  hill  which  must  have  destroyed  them  all.  It  was, 
therefore,  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and  by  repeated  efforts, 
the  wounded  passengers  extricated  themselves  from  the 
wreck  of  the  stage.  Such  repeated  wanton  and  wilful  acts 
of  drivers  to  gratify  their  caprice,  ambition,  or  passions, 
generally  under  the  stimulus  of  ardent  spirits,  calls  aloud 
on  the  community  to  expose  and  punish  these  shameful 
aggressions." 

It  should  be  added,  in  truth,  that  accidents  on 
stage-coaches  were  seldom  with  fatal  results.  Stage 
coach  travel  was  more  disagreeable  than  deadly.  A 
stage-coach  driver  who  had  driven  three  hundred 
days  a  year  for  thirty-five  years,  could  boast  that 
there  had  never  been  a  serious  accident  while  he 
was  driving,  and  scarcely  any  injury  had  been 
received  by  any  passenger. 

Before  the  days  of  the  turnpike  the  miserable 
bridges,  especially  of  the  Southern  colonies,  added 
to  the  terrors  of  travel,  though  I  have  not  learned 
of  frequent  accidents  upon  them.  The  poet  Moore 
wrote  in  the  year  1800  of  Virginia  bridges  :  — 

<(  Made  of  a  few  uneasy  planks 

In  open  ranks, 
Over  rivers  of  mud." 

Near  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  in  1812,  a 
traveller  by  coach  thus  found  the  bridge:  — 

"Three  large  logs  were  stretched  across  the  creek, 
called  sleepers,  and  these  supported  a  number  of  misshapen 
pieces  called  rafters,  thrown  on  at  random,  without  being 


The  Pains  of  Stage-coach  Travel         367 

fixed  either  by  nails  or  pins.  They  had  been  disturbed  by 
a  freshet,  and  the  driver  alighted  to  adjust  them.  On 
entering  the  bridge,  the  fore  wheels  gathered  the  rafters 
in  a  heap  which  stopped  the  progress  of  the  coach.  This 
was  just  as  the  driver  was  whipping  up  the  fore  horses. 
They  sprang  forward,  and  disengaging  themselves  with  a 
jerk,  by  pulling  out  the  staple  of  the  main  singletree,  they 
set  off  at  full  speed  with  the  singletree  rattling  at  their 
heels." 

One  horse  was  killed,  the  patient  passengers 
alighted  and  pulled  the  coach  free  themselves.  At 
the  next  creek  the  horses  plunged  in  the  water  and 
swam  across,  while  the  passengers  held  up  the  mail- 
bags  to  keep  them  dry.  Weld  tells  of  similar 
bridges  and  experiences  in  1795  in  Virginia. 

Many  of  the  bridges  were  rickety  floating  bridges. 
Mr.  Twining  experienced  the  sense  of  insecurity, 
the  dread  of  sinking,  which  I  have  also  felt  in  cross 
ing  a  floating  bridge  in  a  heavy  vehicle. 

Mr.  Twining  tells  also  of  the  constant  necessity 
of  trimming  and  balancing  of  the  stage-wagon  by 
all  the  passengers  leaning  to  one  side  to  prevent  it 
from  overturning  in  the  deep  ruts  which  abounded. 
Mr.  Weld  wrote  that  the  driver  "  frequently  called 
out,  c  Now,  gentlemen,  to  the  right,'  upon  which  all 
the  passengers  stretched  their  bodies  halfway  out  of 
the  carriage  to  balance  on  that  side.  c  Now,  gentle 
men,  to  the  left/  and  so  on." 

One  traveller  tells  of  a  facetious  travelling  com 
panion,  — 

"  '  A  son  of  Neptune  and  of  Mars  also,'  and  could 
adapt  the  technical  language  of  these  professions  to  the 


368  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

different  movements  of  the  stage.  When  the  coach  heeled 
to  one  side  he  would  call  out,  '  To  the  right  and  left  and 
cover  your  flanks — Whiz!'  —  and  when  we  passed  a 
stream  or  ford  he  would  sing  out,  '  By  the  deep  nine,' 
accompanied  with  all  the  movements  of  heaving  the  lead. 
The  day  was  clear,  pleasant,  and  healthy ;  and  in  this 
strain  of  merriment  and  good  humor  we  prosecuted  our 
journey  much  to  our  satisfaction." 

Folk  were  easily  amused  in  coaching  days.  One 
of  the  old  stage-drivers  tells  the  following  incident 
of  stage  travel.  He  was  driving  from  Dover, 
New  Hampshire,  to  Haverhill,  Massachusetts. 
During  the  spring  months  the  roads  were  often 
in  a  bad  condition,  and  six  horses  and  sometimes 
ten  were  needed  to  draw  the  coach.  In  Epping, 
New  Hampshire,  was  a  particularly  hard  place, 
locally  known  as  the  "  Soap  mine."  Through 
this  mine  of  mud  the  driver  hoped  to  guide  his 
coach  and  six.  But  the  coach  was  heavily  loaded, 
and  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  skilful  driver 
the  team  was  soon  fast  in  the  mud,  the  wheels 
settling  to  the  hubs.  All  attempts  of  the  horses 
to  start  the  coach  were  in  vain.  The  driver  finally 
climbed  down  from  his  seat,  opened  the  coach  door 
and  told  the  passengers  the  condition  of  things,  and 
politely  asked  them  to  get  out  and  thereby  lighten 
the  load.  This  they  all  positively  refused  to  do ; 
they  had  paid  their  fares  and  did  not  think  it  their 
duty  to  get  out  into  the  mud.  The  driver  said, 
"Very  well,"  quietly  closed  the  door,  and  seated 
himself  by  the  roadside.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
passengers  asked,  "  What  are  you  doing  there  ?  " 


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Monday,  Wedneadax  a«d  Firidar "  morning' , 
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Advertisements  from  Connecticut  Journal,  July  3,    1815. 


The   Pains  of  Stage-coach  Travel          369 

The  driver  calmly  replied:  "The  horses  cannot 
draw  the  load.  There  is  only  one  thing  I  can  do. 
I  shall  wait  until  the  mud  dries  up." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  they  did  not  wait  for 
the  mud  to  dry. 

The  state  of  the  roads  and  the  regard  of  some 
persons  for  stage-coach  travelling  is  shown  in  a 
letter  written  early  in  this  century  by  a  mother  to 
a  girl  of  eighteen,  visiting  at  Cambridge,  and  im 
patient  to  return  home.  As  the  roads  were  bad  her 
father  delayed  his  going  for  her.  Her  mother 
says :  — 

"Your  papa  would  not  trust  your  life  in  the  stage. 
It  is  a  very  unsafe  and  improper  conveyance  for  young 
ladies.  Many  have  been  the  accidents,  many  the  cripples 
made  by  accidents  in  those  vehicles.  As  soon  as  your 
papa  can  go,  you  may  be  sure  he  will  go  or  send  for  you." 

There  was  one  curious  and  most  depressing,  even 
appalling,  condition  of  stage-coach  travel.  It  seemed 
to  matter  little  how  long  was  your  journey,  nor 
where  you  were  going,  nor  whence  you  started, 
your  coach  always  started  before  daybreak.  You 
had  to  rise  in  the  dark,  dress  in  the  dark  most 
feebly  illumined,  eat  a  hurriedly  prepared  breakfast 
in  the  dark,  and  start  out  in  the  blackness  of  night 
or  the  depressing  chill  of  early  morning.  We  read 
that  the  greatest  number  of  deaths  take  place  in  the 
early  morning,  at  daybreak,  and  it  is  not  surprising, 
since  it  is  the  time,  of  all  the  hours  of  the  day,  when 
earth  offers  the  least  to  the  human  soul  to  tempt  it 
to  remain  here.  It  is  no  unusual  thing  to  read  in 

2B 


370  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

travellers'  accounts  of  journeys  by  stage-coach,  of 
riding  ten  miles  on  the  coach,  and  then  —  break 
fasting.  We  cannot  wonder,  therefore,  at  the  records 
of  incessant  dram-drinking  during  coach  travel  which 
we  always  find  in  any  minute  accounts. 

An  English  eye-witness,  Captain  Basil  Hall,  thus 
described  the  beginning  of  a  trip  from  Providence 
to  Hartford  in  October,  1829  :  — 

"  The  nominal  hour  of  starting  was  five  in  the  morning ; 
but  as  everything  in  America  comes  sooner  than  one  ex 
pects,  a  great  tall  man  walked  into  the  room  at  ten  minutes 
before  four  o'clock  to  say  it  wanted  half  an  hour  of  five : 
and  presently  we  heard  the  rumbling  of  the  stage  coming 
to  the  door  upwards  of  thirty  minutes  before  the  time  speci 
fied.  Fortunately  there  were  only  five  passengers,  so  we 
had  plenty  of  room  ;  and  as  the  morning  was  fine  we  might 
have  enjoyed  the  journey  much,  had  we  not  been  compelled 
to  start  so  miserably  early.  At  the  village  of  Windham 
we  dined  in  a  cheerful  sunny  parlour  on  a  neatly  dressed 
repast  excellent  in  every  way,  and  with  very  pleasant 
chatty  company." 

So  forehanded  were  American  coach-agents  and 
coach-drivers  that  such  premature  starts  were  not 
infrequent.  Many  a  time  an  indignant  passenger, 
on  time,  but  left  behind,  was  sent  off  after  the  coach 
in  a  chaise  with  a  swift  horse  at  full  gallop. 

Josiah  Quincy  tells  thus  of  a  trip  on  the  Lan 
caster  road  during  the  winter  of  1826  :  — 

"At  three  o'clock  this  morning  the  light  of  a  candle 
under  the  door  and  a  rousing  knock  told  me  that  it  was 
time  to  depart,  and  shortly  after  I  left  Philadelphia  by  the 


The  Pains  of  Stage-coach  Travel         371 

Lancaster  stage,  otherwise  a  vast  illimitable  wagon,  capa 
ble  of  holding  some  sixteen  passengers  with  decent  com 
fort  to  themselves,  and  actually  encumbered  with  some 
dozen  more.  After  riding  till  eight  o'clock  we  reached 
the  breakfast  house,  where  we  partook  of  a  good  meal." 

Longfellow  wrote  of  his  first  acquaintance,  in  the 
year  1840,  with  the  Wayside  Inn,  otherwise  Howe's 
Tavern,  at  Sudbury,  Massachusetts  :  "  The  stage 
left  Boston  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
reaching  the  Sudbury  Tavern  for  breakfast,  a  con 
siderable  portion  of  the  route  being  travelled  in 
total  darkness,  and  without  your  having  the  least 
idea  who  your  companion  might  be." 

Charles  Sumner,  writing  in  1834  of  a  trip  to 
Washington,  says  :  "  We  started  from  Boston  at 
half-past  three  Monday  morning  with  twelve  pas 
sengers  and  their  full  complement  of  baggage  on 
board,  and  with  six  horses.  The  way  was  very  dark, 
so  that,  though  I  rode  with  the  driver,  it  was  some 
time  before  I  discovered  we  had  six  horses." 

The  unfortunate  soul  who  wished  or  was  forced  to 
travel  from  Boston  to  New  York  in  1 802  was  per 
mitted  a  very  decent  start  at  ten  in  the  morning.  He 
arrived  in  Worcester  at  eight  at  night.  Thereafter 
at  Worcester,  Hartford,  and  Stamford  he  had  to 
start  at  three  in  the  morning  and  ride  till  eight 
at  night.  We  can  imagine  his  condition  when 
arriving  in  New  York.  The  Lancaster  and  Leomin- 
ster  stages  left  Boston  at  sunrise.  John  Melish, 
the  English  traveller,  in  1795,  was  called  to  start  at 
two  in  the  morning,  when  he  set  out  from  Boston 
to  New  York.  Badger  and  Porter's  Stage  Register 


372  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

for  1829  gives  the  time  of  starting  of  the  stage  to 
Fitchburg  as  2  A.M.  ;  the  Albany  stage  was  the  same 
hour.  The  stage  for  Keene  set  out  at  4  A.M.,  and 
the  one  for  Bennington  at  2  A.M.  The  stage  for 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  in  1833  started  at  3  A.M. 
In  1842,  the  Albany  coach  left  at  4  A.M.  When 
we  remember  the  meagre  "  light  of  other  days,"  the 
pale  rays  of  a  candle,  usually  a  tallow  one,  the 
smoky  flicker  of  a  whale-oil  lamp,  the  dingy  shadow 
of  an  ancient  lantern,  we  can  fancy  the  gloom  of 
that  early  morning  departure ;  and  when  it  was 
made  in  snow,  or  fog,  or  rain,  there  seemed  but 
scant  romance  in  travel  by  stage-coach.  A  fine 
picture  by  Mr.  Edward  Lamson  Henry,  "  A  Wet 
Start  at  Daybreak,"  is  reproduced  opposite  page  370. 
It  is  interesting  and  picturesque  —  to  look  at;  but 
it  was  not  interesting  to  experience. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

KNIGHTS    OF    THE    ROAD 

IT  is  impossible  to  read  of  the  conditions  of  life 
on  the  public  highway  in  England  and  not 
wonder  at  the  safety  and  security  with  which  all 
travel  was  carried  on  in  the  American  colonies. 
In  Great  Britain  shop-robbing,  foot-padding,  street 
assaults,  and  highway  robberies  were  daily  incidents. 
Stage-coach  passengers  were  specially  plundered. 
From  end  to  end  of  England  was  heard  the  cry  of 
"  Stand  and  deliver."  Day  after  day,  for  weeks 
together,  the  Hampstead,  Islington,  Dover,  and 
Hackney  coaches  were  stopped  in  broad  daylight, 
and  the  passengers  threatened  and  robbed.  The 
mail  from  Bristol  to  London  was  robbed  every  week 
for  five  weeks.  Scores  of  prisoners  were  taken,  and 
scores  more  strung  up  on  the  gallows  ;  many  were 
shipped  off  to  the  Plantations  because  on  hanging 
day  at  Tyburn,  there  was  not  room  enough  on  the 
gallows  for  the  convicted  men.  All  classes  turned 
outlaws.  Well-to-do  farmers  and  yeomen  organ 
ized  as  highwaymen  in  the  Western  counties  under 
the  name  of  "  the  Blacks."  Justices  and  landed 
gentry  leagued  with  "  the  Owlers "  to  rob,  to 
smuggle,  and  defraud  the  customs.  Even  Adam 
Smith  confessed  to  a  weakness  for  smuggling. 

373 


374  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

Travellers  journeyed  with  a  prayer-book  in  one 
hand  and  a  pistol  in  the  other.  Nothing  of  this  was 
known  in  America.  Citizens  of  the  colonies  travelled 
unhampered  by  either  religion  or  fear.  Men  and 
women  walked  through  our  little  city  streets  by  night 
and  day  in  safety.  The  footpads  and  highwaymen 
,  who  were  transported  to  this  country  either  found 
new  modes  of  crimes  or  ceased  their  evil  deeds. 

Not  only  on  convict  ships  came  highwaymen  to 
America.  As  redemptioners  many  rogues  came 
hither,  sure  thus  of  passage  across-seas  and  trust 
ing  to  luck  or  craft  to  escape  the  succeeding  years 
of  bound  labor.  Among  the  honest  men  seized  in 
English  ports,  kidnapped,  and  shipped  to  America 
were  found  some  thieves  and  highwaymen,  but  all 
-whether  "  free-willers,"  convicts,  or  "kids"  — 
seemed  to  drop  highway  robbery  in  the  new  world. 
We  were  nigh  to  having  one  famous  thief.  Great 
Moll  Cutpurse,  had  her  resources  been  of  lesser  sort, 
had  been  landed  in  Virginia,  for  she  was  trapanned 
and  put  aboard  ship,  but  escaped  ere  ship  set  sail. 
Perhaps  'twould  have  been  of  small  avail,  for  in 
Virginia,  with  its  dearth  of  wives,  even  such  a  sturdy 
jade  as  Moll,  "  a  very  tomrig  and  rumpscuttle," 
sure  had  found  a  husband  and  consequent  domestic 
sobriety. 

There  was  one  very  good  reason  why  there  was 
little  highway  robbery  in  America.  Early  in  our  his 
tory  men  began  to  use  drafts  and  bills  of  exchange, 
where  the  old  world  clung  to  cash.  English 
travellers  persisted  in  carrying  gold  and  bank 
notes,  while  we  carried  cheques  and  letters  of  credit. 


Knights  of  the   Road 


375 


IS 


To  this  day  the  latter  form  of  money-transfer  i 
more  common  with  Americans  than  with  the  Eng 
lish.  Express  messengers  in  the  far  West  carrying 
gold  did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  a  Jesse  James. 
But  our  typical  Ameri 
can  scamp  has  ever 
been  the  tramp,  for 
merly  the  vagabond, 
not  the  highwayman  ; 
though  the  horse 
thief  kept  him  close 
companion. 

By  this  absence  of 
the  highwaymen,  our 
story  of  the  road  has 
lost  much  of  its  pic- 
turesqueness  and 
color.  I  have  envied 
the  English  road- 
annalists  their  posses 
sion  of  these  gay  and 
dashing  creatures.  Their  reckless  buoyancy,  their 
elegance,  their  gallantry,  their  humor,  make  me  long 
to  adopt  them  and  set  them  on  our  staid  New  Eng 
land  roads  or  on  Pennsylvania  turnpikes.  Dick 
Turpin,  Claude  Duval,  Beau  Brocade  —  how  I 
should  love  to  have  them  hold  up  Benjamin 
Franklin  or  John  Adams  ! 

There  was  no  lack  of  rogues  in  the  colonies,  but 
their  roguery  did  not  take  the  outlet  of  highway 
robbery.  One  Henry  Tufts,  a  famous  vagabond, 
has  left  an  amusing  and  detailed  history  of  his  life 


Sign-board  of  Perkins  Inn,  Hopkinton, 
New  Hampshire. 


376  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

and  deeds.  He  stole  scores  of  horses  by  sneaking 
methods,  but  never  by  open  seizure  on  the  road. 
He  began  his  wrong-doing  after  the  universal  cus 
tom  of  all  bad  boys  (but  why  be  invidious  ?  —  of  all 
good  boys,  too),  by  robbing  orchards.  He  soon 
raised  himself  to  be  a  leader  in  deviltry  by  the  fol 
lowing  manoeuvre.  A  group  of  bad  boys  were  to 
have  a  stolen  feast  of  bread  and  cucumbers  ;  for  the 
latter  esteemed  viand  they  raided  a  cucumber  patch. 
As  they  seated  themselves  to  gorge  upon  their  ill- 
gotten  fare,  Henry  Tufts  raised  a  cry  that  the  robbed 
cucumber  farmer  was  upon  them.  All  fled,  but 
Tufts  quickly  returned  and  ate  all  the  feast  himself. 
He  survived  the  cucumbers,  but  pretended  to  his 
confederates  that  he  had  been  captured  and  had 
promised  to  work  out  the  value  of  the  spoils  in  a 
week's  hard  labor.  This  work  sentence  he  per 
suaded  them  to  share ;  he  then  farmed  out  the  lot 
of  young  workmen  at  a  profit,  while  they  thought 
themselves  nobly  sharing  his  punishment.  He  lived 
to  great  old  age,  and,  though  at  the  last  he  "  carried 
his  dish  pretty  uprightly,"  it  was  by  taking  a  hand 
at  forgery  and  counterfeiting  that  he  lived  when 
burglary  became  arduous ;  his  nature,  though  irre 
trievably  bad,  was  never  bold  enough  to  venture  his 
life  by  robbing  on  the  highway. 

A  very  interesting  thread  of  Tuft's  story  is  his 
connection  with  the  War  of  the  Revolution ;  and 
it  awakens  deep  compassion  for  Washington  and 
his  fellow-generals  when  we  think  how  many  such 
scamps  and  adventurers  must  have  swarmed  into 
the  Federal  army,  to  the  disorder  of  the  regiments 


Knights  of  the  Road  377 

and  to  their  discredit  and  to  the  harassment  alike 
of  patriot  officers  and  patriot  soldiers.  There  were 
frequent  aggressions  at  the  hands  of  rogues  in  the 
Middle  states,  and  they  became  known  by  the 
name  of  Skinners.  Cooper's  novel,  The  Spy,  gives 
an  account  of  these  sneaking  bands  of  sham  patriots. 
Among  those  who  allied  themselves  on  the  side  of 
the  King  was  a  family  of  notorious  scoundrels,  five 
brothers  named  Doane. 

The  story  of  the  Doanes  is  both  tragic  and 
romantic.  They  were  sons  of  respectable  Quaker 
parents  of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  during 
the  Revolutionary  War  became  celebrated  for  their 
evil  deeds.  They  wrere  all  men  of  remarkable  physi 
cal  development,  tall,  strong,  athletic,  and  all  fine 
horsemen.  Before  the  war  they  were  of  good  repu 
tation,  and  it  is  said  proposed  to  remain  neutral ; 
but  the  Doanes  were  not  permitted  to  take  a  middle 
course,  and  soon  enrolled  themselves  as  Tories, 
which  at  once  engendered  a  bitter  feeling  between 
them  and  their  Whig  neighbors.  They  began 
their  career  of  infamy  by  robbing  and  plundering  in 
the  neighborhood,  gradually  extending  their  field 
of  operations  into  neighboring  counties.  Sabine's 
Loyalists  gives  the  names  of  three  other  Doanes  - 
kinsmen  who  were  allied  with  the  five  brothers  in 
their  evil  deeds.  Their  place  in  historical  books 
and  history  comes  to  them  through  their  services 
to  the  British  officers  during  the  war.  In  a  dingy 
chap-book  entitled  Annals  of  the  Revolution,  or  a 
History  of  the  Doanes,  full  credit  is  assigned  to 
Moses  Doane  for  giving  information  to  General 


37 8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

Howe,  and  planning  with  him  the  stratagem  which 
led  to  the  victories  of  the  British  on  Long  Island. 
The  Edge  Hill  skirmish,  laid  out  by  Doane  and 
agreed  to  by  Howe  and  Lord  Cornwallis,  was  to  be 
an  important  move  of  the  British.  The  move  was 
lost  by  the  prompt  and  brave  action  of  Mrs.  Lydia 
Darrach,  who  overheard  the  plot  and  carried  news 
of  it  to  Washington.  In  the  terrible  massacre  at 
Wyoming  the  Doanes  took  prominent  part.  The 
close  of  the  war  seemed  but  to  increase  their  career 
of  crime.  Each  brother  had  a  sled  drawn  by  four 
horses.  There  was  heavy  snow  and  a  long  season 
of  sleighing  in  1782,  and  they  fairly  raided  the 
entire  state,  robbing  again  and  again  on  the  high 
way.  At  last  an  act  was  passed  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  "  to  encourage  the  speedy 
apprehending  and  bringing  to  justice  of  divers  Rob 
bers,  Burglars,  and  Felons,"  naming  the  Doanes, 
and  offering  a  large  reward  for  their  capture  and 
a  gift  of  ^150  to  any  person  injured  in  helping  to 
arrest  them,  or  ^300  to  the  family  of  such  a  helper 
should  he  be  killed  while  aiding  the  cause  of  justice. 
Joseph  Doane  was  finally  secured  in  prison.  He 
broke  jail,  however,  and  escaped  to  New  Jersey, 
where,  like  many  another  thief  and  rogue  of  his 
day,  he  found  occupation  as  a  school-teacher.  He 
then  fled  to  Canada,  and  died  peacefully  at  an 
advanced  age.  Two  brothers,  Abraham  and  Mah- 
lon,  were  hanged  in  Philadelphia.  Moses,  the  leader 
of  the  outlaws,  had  the  most  tragic  end.  He  was 
the  most  cruel  and  powerful  of  them  all ;  of  famous 
athletic  powers,  it  was  said  he  could  run  and  jump 


Knights  of  the   Road 


379 


Russel  Tavern,  Arlington,  Massachusetts. 

over  a  Conestoga  wagon.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
summer  of  1783,  the  Doanes  went  to  the  house  of 
one  Halsey  who  lived  on  Gallows  Run,  and  asked 
for  something  to  eat,  and  Halsey  sent  his  son  to 
a  neighboring  mill  to  get  flour  for  them.  The  boy 
told  that  the  Doanes  were  at  his  father's  house,  and 
the  miller  sent  the  word  to  a  vendue  in  the  neigh 
borhood.  A  party  of  fourteen  armed  and  mounted 
men  promptly  started  to  capture  them.  The  house 
was  surrounded.  On  approaching  the  men  saw 
through  the  clinks  of  the  logs  the  Doanes  eating 
at  table,  with  their  guns  standing  near.  William 
Hart  opened  the  door  and  commanded  them  to 
surrender,  but  they  seized  their  arms  and  fired. 
Hart  seized  Moses  Doane,  threw  him  down,  and 
secured  him.  Then  Robert  Gibson  rushed  into 
the  cabin  and  shot  Doane  in  the  breast,  killing  him 
instantly.  Colonel  Hart  sent  the  body  of  the  dead 


380  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

outlaw  to  his  unhappy  father,  who  was  also  tried 
for  sheltering  the  robbers,  and  burnt  in  the  hand 
and  imprisoned. 

The  most  noted  scourge  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  Tom  Bell.  He  was  for  years  the  torment  of 
the  Middle  colonies,  alike  in  country  and  in  town. 
He  was  the  despair  of  magistrates,  the  plague  of 
sheriffs,  the  dread  of  householders,  and  the  special 
pest  of  horse-owners.  Meagre  advertisements  in 
the  contemporary  newspapers  occasionally  show  his 
whereabouts  and  doings.  This  is  from  the  New 
York  Weekly  Post  Boy  of  November  5,  1744:  — 

"  The  noted  Tom  Bell  was  last  week  seen  by  several 
who  knew  him  walking  about  this  city  with  a  large  Patch 
on  his  face  and  wrapt  up  in  a  Great  Coat,  and  is  supposed 
to  be  still  lurking." 

Two  years  later,  in  April  14,  1746,  we  read:  — 

"  Tuesday  last  the  famous  and  Notorious  Villain  Tom 
Bell  was  apprehended  in  this  city  and  committed  to  Jail  on 
Suspicion  of  selling  a  Horse  he  had  hired  some  time  ago 
of  an  Inhabitant  of  Long  Island.  His  accuser  'tis  said  has 
sworn  expressly  to  his  Person,  notwithstanding  which  he 
asserts  his  Innocence  with  a  most  undaunted  Front  and 
matchless  Impudence.  We  hear  his  trial  is  to  come  off 
this  week." 

His  most  famous  piece  of  deviltry  was  his  im 
personation  of  a  pious  parson  in  New  Jersey.  He 
preached  with  as  much  vigor  as  he  stole,  and  his 
accidental  resemblance  to  the  minister  increased  his 
welcome  and  his  scope  for  thieving.  So  convinced 
was  the  entire  community  that  it  was  the  real  parson 


Knights  of  the   Road 


381 


who  robbed  their  houses  and  stole  their  horses,  that 
on  his  return  to  his  parish  he  was  thrust  into  prison, 
and  a  clerical  friend  who  protested  against  this  in 
dignity  was  set  in  a  pillory  in  Trenton  for  false 
swearing.  Still,  Tom  Bell  was  not  a  highwayman 
of  the  true  English  stamp  ;  he  more  closely  resem 
bled  a  sneak  thief. 

In  the  year  1741  the  little  child  of  Cornelius 
Cook,  the  blacksmith  of  Westborough,  Massachu 
setts,  and  of  his  wife  Eunice, 
lay  very  close  to  death.  As 
was  the  custom  of  the  day, 
the  good  old  parson,  Dr. 
Parkman,  and  his  deacons 
prayed  earnestly  over  the 
boy,  that  the  Lord's  will  be 
done  ;  but  his  mother  in  her 
distress  pleaded  thus:  "Only 
spare  his  life,  and  I  care  not 
what  he  becomes."  Tom 
Cook  recovered,  and  as  years 
passed  on  it  became  evident 
by  his  mischievous  and  evil 
deeds  that  he  had  entered 
into  a  compact  with  the  devil, 
perhaps  by  his  mother's 
agonized  words,  perhaps  by 
his  own  pledge.  The  last  year  of  this  compact 
was  at  an  end,  and  the  devil  appeared  to  claim 
his  own  as  Tom  was  dressing  for  another  day's 
mischief.  Tom  had  all  his  wits  about  him,  for 
he  lived  upon  them.  "  Wait,  wait,  can't  you," 


> 


E.GlFFORD 


Sign  board  of  Gifford's  Tavern. 


382  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

he  answered  the  imperative  call  of  his  visitor,  "  till 
I  get  my  galluses  on  ?  "  The  devil  acquiesced  to  this 
last  request,when  Tom  promptly  threwthe  suspenders 
in  the  fire,  and  therefore  could  never  put  them  on 
nor  be  required  to  answer  the  devil's  demands. 

Tom  Cook  became  well  known  throughout  Mas 
sachusetts,  and  indeed   throughout   New  England, 

as  a  most  extraordinary  thief. 
His  name  appears  in  the 
records  of  scores  of  New 
England  towns;  he  was  called 
"  the  honest  thief"  ;  and  his 
own  name  for  himself  was 
"  the  leveller."  He  stole 
from  the  rich  and  well-to-do 
with  the  greatest  boldness 
and  dexterity,  equalled  by 
the  kindness  and  delicacy 
of  feeling  shown  in  the  be 
stowal  of  his  booty  upon 
the  poor  and  needy.  He 
stole  the  dinner  from  the 
wealthy  farmer's  kitchen  and 
dropped  it  into  the  kettle  or 
on  the  spit  in  a  poor  man's 

Sign-board  of  Weils    Tavern.  t  r  .  . 

house.       He  stole  meal  and 

grain  from  passing  wagons  and  gave  it  away  before 
the  drivers'  eyes.  A  poor  neighbor  was  ill,  and  her 
bed  was  poor.  He  went  to  a  thrifty  farm-house, 
selected  the  best  feather  bed  in  the  house,  tied  it  in 
a  sheet,  carried  it  downstairs  and  to  the  front  door, 
and  asked  if  he  could  leave  his  bundle  there  for  a 


Knights  of  the   Road  383 

few  days.  The  woman  recognized  him  and  forbade 
him  to  bring  it  within  doors,  and  he  went  off  with 
an  easy  conscience. 

In  Dr.  Parkman's  diary,  now  in  the  library  of 
the  American  Antiquarian  Society  at  Worcester, 
under  the  date  of  August  27,  1779,  is  this  entry: 
"  The  notorious  Thorn.  Cook  came  in  (he  says)  on 
Purpose  to  see  me.  I  gave  him  wl  admonition,  In 
struction,  and  Caution  I  could—-  I  beseech  God  to 
give  it  force!  He  leaves  me  with  fair  Words  — 
thankful  and  promising."  There  came  a  time  when 
his  crime  of  arson  or  burglary  led  to  his  trial,  con 
viction,  and  sentence  to  death.  He  heard  the  awful 
words  of  the  judge,  "  I  therefore  sentence  you  to  be 
hanged  by  the  neck  till  you  are  dead,  dead,  dead," 
and  he  called  out  cheerfully,  "  I  shall  not  be  there 
on  that  day,  day,  day."  And  when  that  day  came, 
surely  enough,  his  cell  was  empty. 

Tom  Cook  was  most  attractive  in  personal  ap 
pearance  ;  agile,  well  formed,  well  featured,  with 
eyes  of  deepest  blue,  most  piercing  yet  most  kindly 
in  expression.  He  was  adored  by  children,  and  his 
pockets  were  ever  filled  with  toys  which  he  had 
stolen  for  their  amusement.  By  older  persons  he 
was  feared  and  disliked.  He  extorted  from  many 
wealthy  farmers  an  annual  toll,  which  exempted 
them  from  his  depredations.  One  day  a  fire  was 
seen  rising  from  the  chimney  of  a  disused  school- 
house  in  Brookline,  and  Tom  was  caught  within 
roasting  a  stolen  goose,  which  he  had  taken  from 
the  wagon  of  a  farmer  on  his  way  to  market.  The 
squire  took  him  to  the  tavern,  which  was  filled 


384  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

with  farmers  and  carters,  many  of  whom  had  been  his 
victims.  He  was  given  his  choice  of  trial  and  jail, 
or  to  run  a  gantlet  of  the  men  assembled.  He 
chose  the  latter,  and  the  long  whips  of  the  teamsters 
paid  out  many  an  old  score  of  years'  standing. 

A  very  amusing  story  of  highway  robbery  is  told 
of  John  Buckman  of  Buckman's  Tavern,  of  Lexing 
ton,  Massachusetts  (which  is  shown  on  page  23). 
An  old  toper  bought  a  bottle  of  rum,  and  the  by 
standers  jokingly  asked  him  what  he  would  do  if  he 
were  attacked  on  the  road.  He  answered  solemnly 
that  he  would  rather  give  up  his  life  than  his  rum. 
John  Buckman  slipped  out  of  the  room,  took  a 
brass  candlestick  that  had  a  slide  that  could  be 
snapped  with  a  noise  like  the  trigger  of  a  pistol. 
He  waylaid  the  rum-lover  not  far  from  the  tavern, 
and  terrified  him  so  that  he  quickly  gave  up  his 
beloved  bottle.  This  was  a  famous  joke  when  John 
told  it  in  the  tavern  taproom,  but  John  did  not 
laugh  the  next  day  when  he  was  arrested  for  high 
way  robbery  and  fined  fifty  dollars. 

In  the  year  1818  there  took  place  the  nearest 
approach  to  a  highway  robbery  on  the  English 
methods  that  had  ever  happened  in  America.  It  was 
the  robbery  of  the  mail-coach  which  ran  between 
Baltimore  and  Philadelphia.  The  story  is  thus 
told  by  one  of  the  victims  :  — 

"  HAVRE  DE  GRACE, 
"  Thursday  morning,  4  o'clock. 
"JoHN  H.  BARNEY,  Esq., 

"  Sir :  I  take  the  earliest  opportunity  to  send  you  by  an 
express  an  account  of  what  happened  to  the  mail  last  even- 


Knights  of  the  Road  385 

ing.  About  2  miles  from  this  place  the  driver  of  your 
mail  wagon  and  myself  were  attacked  by  three  highwaymen, 
each  armed  with  a  double  barrelled  pistol  and  a  dirk.  They 
had,  previous  to  our  arrival,  built  a  rail  fence  across  the 
road,  and  immediately  on  our  driving  up  they  leaped  from 
behind  the  same,  where  they  lay  concealed,  and  presented 
their  pistols,  threatening  to  blow  our  brains  out  if  we  made 
any  resistance.  We  were  then  carried  some  distance  from 
the  road  into  the  woods  ;  there  they  tied  the  driver  and 
myself  to  a  tree  and  commenced  searching  the  mail.  Every 
letter  was  opened  and  all  the  bank  notes  taken  out ;  they 
showed  me  a  large  bundle  of  bills,  and  I  much  fear  the 
loss  will  be  found  very  great.  They  were  from  1 1  until  3 
o'clock  busily  employed  in  opening  the  letters.  After  they 
had  done  this  they  tied  us  to  the  back  of  the  wagon,  mounted 
three  of  the  horses  and  galloped  off  towards  Baltimore. 
They  were  all  white  men  —  had  their  faces  blackened,  and 
neither  of  them  appeared  more  than  20.  I  have  just 
arrived  at  this  place  and  have  stated  the  facts  to  the  deputy 
postmaster,  who  will  use  every  exertion  to  recover  the 
letters  that  remain  in  the  woods.  They  did  not  take  any 
thing  belonging  to  me,  &  appeared  not  to  wish  anything 
but  bank  notes.  They  were  all  dressed  in  sailor's  trowsers 
and  round  jackets,  &  were  about  the  middle  size;  two 
wearing  hats  &  the  other  having  a  silk  handkerchief  tied 

around  his  head. 

u  I  am  your  obt.  servt. 

"  THOS.  W.  LUDLOW. 

"  P.  S.  They  called  each  other  by  their  several  names  — 
Johnson,  Gibson, and  Smith,  but  I  expect  they  were  fictitious." 

At  that  date  and  season  of  the  year  the  "  Eastern 
mail,"  on  account  of  the  heavy  roads,  was  carried  in 
a  light  carriage  called  a  dearborn,  with  four  horses. 


2C 


3 86  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

This  Lieutenant  Ludlow  of  the  United  States  Navy 
obtained  permission  to  accompany  the  driver  in  this 
mail-carriage.  They  left  Baltimore  at  three  o'clock 
and  were  held  up  at  eleven.  One  robber  desired  to 
shoot  Lieutenant  Ludlow  and  the  driver,  but  the 
others  objected,  and,  on  leaving,  offered  the  driver 
ten  dollars.  They  took  no  money  from  Ludlow, 
and  though  they  looked  at  his  handsome  gold 
repeater  to  learn  the  time,  they  carefully  returned  it 
to  his  pocket.  The  very  next  day  two  men  named 
Hare,  known  to  be  journeymen  tailors  of  Balti 
more,  entered  a  clothing  shop  in  that  city,  and  made 
such  a  lavish  display  of  money  that  they  were 
promptly  arrested,  and  over  twenty  thousand  dol 
lars  in  money  and  drafts  was  found  upon  them. 
They  were  puny  fellows,  Levi  Hare  being  but  twenty 
years  old,  and  contemporary  accounts  say  "  one  per 
son  of  average  strength  could  easily  manage  them 
both." 

The  total  amount  of  bills  and  drafts  recovered 
amounted  to  ninety  thousand  dollars,  and  made  the 
robbery  the  largest  ever  attempted.  A  few  days 
later  a  third  brother  Hare  was  arrested,  and  thirteen 
hundred  dollars  was  found  in  his  house.  The  third 
robber  proved  to  be  John  Alexander. 

A  Baltimore  newspaper  dated  May  1 8,  gives  an 
account  of  the  sentence  of  the  three  men  after  their 
interesting  trial :  — 

"  On  Thursday  last  John  Alexander,  Joseph  T.  Hare, 
and  Lewis  Hare  were  brought  before  Court  to  receive 
sentence.  Judge  Duval  presided  —  first  addressed  Lewis 


Knights  of  the  Road  387 

Hare  and  sentenced  him  to  ten  years'  imprisonment  — 
J.  T.  Hare  and  Alexander  sentenced  to  death.  As  Jos.  T. 
Hare  was  proceeding  from  the  Court  House  to  prison 
accompanied  by  the  constable,  they  had  to  cross  Jones' 
Falls,  over  which  the  trunk  of  a  tree  was  laid  for  foot 
passengers  to  walk  on  ;  when  they  arrived  in  the  middle 
of  the  creek  Hare  made  an  attempt  to  release  his  hands 
from  his  irons,  and  to  knock  the  constable  into  the  creek  ; 
it  proved  fruitless,  but  in  the  scuffle  Hare  tore  off  the 
lappelle  of  the  constable's  coat.  After  he  reached  prison 
he  made  an  attack  on  the  turnkey  and  nearly  bit  off  his 
finger." 

I  have  seen  an  amusing  old  chap-book  entitled 
The  Life  of  the  Celebrated  Mail  Robber  and  Dar 
ing  Highwayman  Joseph  'Thompson  Hare,  and  it 
has  a  comical  illustration  of  "  The  Scuffle  between 
Hare  and  the  Constable,"  in  which  the  constable, 
much  dressed  up  in  tight  trousers,  tailed  coat, 
and  high  silk  hat,  struggles  feebly  with  the  outlaw 
as  they  balance  like  acrobats  on  the  narrow  tree- 
trunk. 

The  whole  account  of  this  mail  robbery  has  a 
decidedly  tame  flavoring.  The  pale  tailors,  so 
easily  overcoming  a  presumably  brave  naval  officer 
and  a  government  mail-carrier ;  the  leisurely  ran 
sacking  of  the  mail-bags  ;  the  speedy  and  easy  arrest 
of  the  tailors  and  recovery  of  their  booty,  and  the 
astonishing  simplicity  of  transporting  the  scantily 
guarded  felon  across  a  creek  on  a  fallen  tree  as 
though  on  a  pleasant  country  ramble,  all  combine 
to  render  it  far  from  being  a  tale  of  terror  or 
wild  excitement. 


388  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

The  account  of  the  death  of  the  highwayman  is 
thus  told  in  the  Federal  Republican  and  Baltimore 
^Telegraph  of  September  n,  1818. 

"THE  EXECUTION. 

"  Agreeably  to  public  notice,  the  awful  sentence  of  death 
was  yesterday  inflicted  on  J.  Thompson  Hare  and  John 
Alexander,  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  concourse  assembled 
to  witness  the  ignominious  ceremony.  Their  lives  have 
expiated  the  crime  for  which  they  suffered.  Justice  has 
no  demands  on  them  in  the  grave. 

O 

"  The  gallows  was  sufficiently  elevated  above  the  walls 
of  the  prison  to  afford  a  distinct  view  of  the  unfortunate 
.men  to  spectators  at  the  distance  of  several  hundred  yards. 

ct  Hare  has  made  a  confession  which  is  now  hawking 
about  town  for  sale.  In  it  he  observes  that,  '  for  the  last 
fourteen  years  of  my  life  I  have  been  a  robber,  and  have 
robbed  on  a  large  scale,  and  been  more  successful  than  any 
robber  either  in  Europe  or  in  this  country  that  I  ever 
heard  of.'  " 

This  lying  dying  boast  of  Hare  fitly  closes  his 
evident  failure  as  a  highwayman. 

An  account  of  a  negro  highwayman  is  given  in 
the  Federal  Republican  and  Baltimore  Telegraph  of 
September  1 1,  1818. 

In  the  early  years  of  this  century  there  existed 
in  eastern  Massachusetts  an  organized  band  of 
thieves.  It  is  said  they  were  but  one  link  in  a 
chain  of  evil  night-workers  which,  with  a  home 
or  shelter  in  every  community,  reached  from  Cape 
Hatteras  to  Canada.  This  band  was  well  organ 
ized,  well  trained,  and  well  housed ;  it  had  skilful 


Knights  of  the   Road 


389 


means  of  concealing  stolen  goods  in  innocent-faced 
cottages,  in  barns  of  honest  thrift,  and  in  wells 
and  haystacks  in  simple  dooryards.  One  mild- 
manered  and  humble  house  had  a  deep  cellar  which 
could  be  entered  by  an  ingeniously  hidden  broad 
side  door  in  a  woodshed ;  into  this  cave  a  stolen 
horse  and  wagon  or  a  pursued  load  of  cribbed  goods 


Relay  House,  Mattapan  Tavern. 

might  be  driven,  be  shut  in,  and  leave  no  outward 
sign.  Other  houses  had  secret  cellars,  a  deep  and 
wide  one  beneath  a  shallow,  innocuous  storage  place 
for  domestic  potato  and  apple  bins,  and  honest  cider 
barrels.  In  a  house  sheltering  one  of  these  sub 
terranean  mysteries,  a  hard-working  young  woman 
was  laboriously  and  discreetly  washing  clothes  when 
surprised  by  the  sheriff  and  his  aids,  who  wisely 


390  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

invaded  but  fruitlessly  searched  the  house.  Noth 
ing  save  the  simplest  household  belongings  was 
found  in  that  abode  of  domesticity;  but  in  later 
years,  after  the  gang  was  scattered,  a  trap-door  and 
ladder  were  found  leading  to  the  sub-cellar,  and  with 
chagrin  and  mortification  the  sheriff  remembered 
that  the  woman's  washing  tubs  stood  unharmed 
upon  the  trap-door  during  the  fruitless  search. 

An  amusing  battering  ram  was  used  by  another 
woman  of  this  gang  on  the  sheriff  who  came  to  her 
house  to  arrest  one  of  those  thieves.  The  outlaw 
fled  upstairs  at  the  approach  of  the  officer,  but  his 
retreat  was  noted,  and  the  man  of  law  attempted 
to  follow  and  seize  him.  The  wife  of  the  thief — 
his  congenial  mate  —  opposed  the  passage  of  the 
sheriff,  and  when  he  attempted  to  push  her  one 
side  and  to  crowd  past  her,  she  suddenly  seized  the 
crosspiece  over  the  staircase,  swung  back  by  her 
hands  and  arms,  planted  both  feet  against  the  officer's 
chest,  and  knocked  him  down  with  such  a  sudden 
blow  and  consequent  loss  of  wind,  that  the  thief 
was  far  away  ere  the  sheriff  could  move  or  breathe. 

The  leader  of  this  band  of  thieves  was  an  ingen 
ious  and  delightful  scamp  —  one  George  White. 
He  was  hard  to  catch,  and  harder  to  keep  than  to 
catch.  Handcuffs  were  to  him  but  pleasing  toys. 
His  wrists  were  large,  his  hands  small ;  and  when 
the  right  moment  came,  the  steel  bracelets  were 
quickly  empty.  Locks  and  bolts  were  as  easily 
thrust  aside  and  left  far,  far  behind  him  as  were  the 
handcuffs.  At  last  he  was  branded  on  his  fore 
head  H.  T.,  which  stands  for  horse  thief;  a  mean 


Knights  of  the   Road 


39 


trick  of  a  stupid  constable  who  had  scant  self-confi 
dence  or  inventiveness.  Curling  lovelocks  quickly 
grow,  however,  and  are  ill  in  no  one's  sight ;  indeed, 
they  were  in  high  fashion  in  simijar  circles  in  Eng 
land  at  that  time,  when  various  letters  of  the  alpha 
bet  might  be  seen  on  the  cheeks  and  brow  of  many 
a  gay  traveller  on  the  highway  when  the  wind  blew 
among  the  long  locks. 


Wilde  Tavern,  1770.      Milton,  Massachusetts. 

Term  after  term  in  jail  and  prison  were  decreed 
to  George  White  when  luck  turned  against  him. 
Yet  still  was  he  pardoned,  as  he  deserved  to  be, 
for  his  decorous  deportment  when  behind  bars; 
and  he  had  a  habit  of  being  taken  out  on  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  or  to  be  transferred ;  but  he  never 
seemed  to  reach  his  journey's  end,  and  soon  he  would 
appear  on  the  road,  stealing  and  roistering.  The 
last  word  which  came  from  him  to  New  England 
was  a  letter  from  the  Ohio  Penitentiary,  saying  he 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

was  dying,  and  asking  some  of  his  kin  to  visit  him. 
They  did  not  go,  he  had  fooled  them  too  often. 
Perhaps  they  feared  they  might  put  new  life  into 
him.  But  the  one  time  they  were  sure  he  lied  he 
told  the  truth  —  and  his  varied  career  thus  ended. 

Flying  once  along  a  Massachusetts  highway  on 
a  stolen  horse,  George  White  was  hotly  pursued. 
At  the  first  sharp  turn  in  the  road  he  dismounted 
in  a  flash,  cut  the  horse  a  lash  with  his  whip,  altered 
the  look  of  his  garment  with  a  turn  of  his  hand, 
tore  off  his  hat  brim  and  thus  had  a  jaunty  cap, 
and  started  boldly  back  on  foot.  Meeting  the 
sheriff  and  his  men  all  in  a  heat,  he  fairly  got  under 
their  horses'  feet,  and  as  they  pulled  up  they  bawled 
out  to  know  whether  he  had  seen  a  man  riding 
fast  on  horseback.  "  Why,  yes,"  he  answered 
ingenuously,  "  I  met  a  man  riding  as  though 
the  devil  were  after  him."  They  found  the  horse  in 
half  an  hour,  but  they  never  found  George  White. 

He  once  stole  a  tavern-keeper's  horse,  trimmed 
the  mane,  thinned  out  the  tail,  and  dyed  the  horse's 
white  feet.  He  led  the  renovated  animal  in  to  the 
bereft  landlord,  saying  innocently  that  he  had  heard 
his  horse  was  stolen,  and  thought  he  might  want  to 
buy  another.  He  actually  sold  this  horse  back 
to  his  owner,  but  in  a  short  time  the  horse's  too 
evident  familiarity  with  his  wonted  stable  and  yard 
and  the  fast-fading  dye  revealed  the  rascal's  work. 
To  another  tavern-keeper  he  owed  a  bill  for  board 
and  lodging,  which,  with  the  incongruity  of  ideals 
and  morals  which  is  often  characteristic  of  great 
minds,  he  really  wished  to  pay.  The  landlord  had 


Knights  of  the   Road 


393 


a  fine  black  horse  which  he  had  displayed  to  his 
boarder  with  pride.  This  horse  was  kept  tempora 
rily  in  a  distant  pasture.  White  stole  the  horse 
one  night,  rode  off  a  few  miles,  and  sold  it  and  was 
paid  for  it.  He  stole  it  again  that  night  from  the 
purchaser,  sold  it,  and  was  paid.  He  stole  it  a  third 
time  and  returned  it  to  the  pasture  from  whence  it 
never  had  been  missed.  He  then  paid  his  board- 
bill  as  an  honest  man  should. 


Ashburnham  Thief  Detecting  Society. 

These  gangs  of  horse  thieves  became  such  pests, 
such  scourges  in  the  Northern  states,  that  harassed 
citizens  in  many  towns  gathered  into  bands  and 
associations  for  mutual  protection  and  systematic 
detection  of  the  miscreants.  A  handbill  of  the 
"  Ashburnham  Thief  Detecting  Society "  had  an 
engraved  heading  which  is  reproduced  on  this  page, 
which  showed  a  mounted  thief  riding  across  country 
with  honest  citizens  in  hot  pursuit.  The  Thief 
Detecting  Society  of  Hingham  had,  in  1847,  eighty- 
seven  members.  It  used  a  similar  print  for  a 
heading  for  handbills,  also  one  of  a  boy  stealing 
apples  —  as  a  severe  lesson  to  youth. 


394  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

In  the  year  1805  an  abrupt  and  short  but  fierce 
attempt  was  made  at  highway  robbery  and  burglary 
in  Albany.  The  story  as  told  in  a  chap-book  is  so 
simple,  so  antique,  so  soberly  comic,  that  it  might 
be  three  centuries  old  instead  of  scarce  one.  The 
illustrations,  though  of  the  date  1836,  are  of  the 
standard  of  art  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

It  seems  a  piece  of  modern  Philistinism  to  spoil 
the  story — as  I  must  —  by  condensation.  The 
title  of  the  book  is  'The  Robber,  or  Pye  and  The 
Highwayman,  and  the  irony  of  giving  Pye  place 
before  the  highwayman  or  -any  place  at  all  will  be 
apparent  by  the  story.  In  this  tale  two  sturdy 
Albany  dames  shine  as  models  of  courage  and  fear 
lessness  by  the  side  of  the  terror-stricken  burghers 
of  the  entire  town,  whose  reputation  to  a  man  was 
only  saved  from  the  branding  of  utter  and  universal 
cowardice  by  the  appearance  and  manly  carriage  and 
triumph  at  the  end  of  the  night's  fray  of  old 
Wi  me  the  pennypost. 

There  put  up  that  year  in  December  at  an  Albany 
tavern  a  young  man  who  gave  his  name  as  Johnson  ; 
he  was  aristocratic  in  bearing  and  dress,  dark  of  com 
plexion,  sombre  of  aspect,  but  courteous  and  pleas 
ant,  "with  a  daring  but  cultivated  eye."  When 
questioned  of  himself  and  his  business,  however, 
Johnson  was  silent  and  taciturn.  His  magnificent 
horse  and  pair  of  splendid  pistols  were  noted  by  the 
solid  Dutch  burghers  and  sharp  Yankee  traders  who 
smoked  and  drank  beer  within  the  tavern  walls;  and 
one  wintry  afternoon  the  stranger  was  seen  carefully 
cleaning  the  pair  of  pistols. 


Knights  of  the   Road  395 

On  that  bitter  night,  a  man  —  none  other  than 
our  biack-browed  highwayman  —  rode  clattering  up 
to  the  toll-gate  two  miles  below  the  town,  and  called 
out  to  open  the  gate;  when  the  wife  of  the  toll- 
keeper  appeared  to  do  that  duty  he  jumped  from 
his  horse,  rushed  in  toward  the  house,  demanding 
in  a  terrible  voice  all  the  money  in  the  toll  till  and 
chest.  The  woman  was  terrified  at  this  demand, 
yet  not  so  scared  but  she  could  at  his  first  approach 
throw  the  fat  bag  with  all  the  accumulation  of  toll 
money  under  the  porch,  and  do  it  unseen  by  the 
highwayman ;  and  she  at  once  asserted  tearfully, 
with  the  alacritous  mendacity  born  of  sharp  terror 
(the  account  says  with  great  earnestness  and  woman 
ish  simplicity),  that  her  husband  had  gone  to  the 
agent  in  town  with  all  the  month's  collections,  leav 
ing  her  but  a  few  shillings  for  change,  which  she 
displayed  in  the  gate-drawer  for  proof.  Disgusted 
but  credulous,  the  villain  rode  off  with  loud  oaths, 
baffled  in  the  simplest  fashion  by  Dame  Trusty 
No.  i. 

He  then  went  to  the  tavern  of  John  Pye,  the 
wealthy  landlord,  on  the  West  Troy  road.  He 
found  the  house  locked  peacefully  for  the  night,  but 
forced  a  window  and  entered.  In  the  barroom  and 
kitchen,  the  fire  was  carefully  covered  to  keep  till 
morning.  Lighting  his  dark  lantern  with  the  coals, 
he  then  poured  water  on  both  fires  and  extinguished 
them,  and  I  have  puzzled  long  in  my  mind  wonder 
ing  why  he  dallied,  risking  detection  by  doing  this. 
He  then  went  to  the  room  where  Pye  and  his  wife 
were  peacefully  reposing,  and  rudely  awakened  them. 


396 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


Mrs.  Pye,  promptly  assuming  the  role  she  carried 
throughout,  jumped  from  her  bed  and  asked  him 
what  he  wished.  He  answered,  the  chap-book  says, 
"  silently,"  "  I  deal  with  your  husband,  Madam, 
not  with  you  "  — and  a  more  fatuous  mistake  never 

issued  from  lips  of  high 
wayman.  To  Pye  he 
then  said,  "Your  money 
or  your  life."  Pye, 
heavy  with  sleep — and 
natural  stupidity  — 
seemed  to  fancy  some 
trick  was  being  played 
on  him  in  mischief,  and 
to  the  highwayman's 
demand  for  money  an 
swered,  half  alarmed, 
half  peevish,  "It's 
damned  little  money 
you'll  get  out  of  me,  my 
lad,  as  the  thing  is  but 
indifferently  plenty  with 
But  he  was  roused 


me. 


Sign-board  of  Williams  Tavern. 


at  last  by  the  fierceness 
of  threats  and  gestures, 
and  whimpered  that  his  money  was  below ;  and  the 
two  proceeded  downstairs  to  the  taproom  by  the 
light  of  the  robber's  lantern.  The  moment  they 
left  the  room,  Mrs.  Pye  ran  softly  to  a  bedroom 
where  slept  two  sojourners  at  the  inn,  wakened  them 
with  hurried  words  of  the  robber's  visit  and  her 
beloved  Pye's  danger,  and  made  appeals  for  help ; 


Knights  of  the  Road  397 

and  as  an  emphatic  wakener  pulled  them  out  of  bed 
upon  the  floor.  Then  she  ran  swiftly  back  to  bed. 
In  the  meantime  the  terrified  Pye  recalled  that 
his  wife  had  the  keys  of  the  taproom  till  which  held 
his  money,  and  he  and  the  highwayman  returned  to 
her  bedroom  and  demanded  them  from  her.  "  I'll 
give  the  keys  to  thee  nor  no  man  else,"  she  stoutly 
answered.  "Thee  must,  I  tell  thee,"  whined  Pye, 
"or  worse  may  happen."  "Pye,  I'll  not  give  up 
my  keys,"  still  she  cried,  and  seized  a  loaded  gun 
by  the  bedside  ;  for  fierce  answer  the  highwayman 
fired  his  pistol  at  Pye.  With  lamentable  outcries 
Pye  called  out  he  was  a  dead  man,  and  his  arm  fell 
to  his  side.  His  wife  thrust  the  gun  in  his  hands, 
shouting,  "  Fire,  Pye,  fire  !  he's  feeling  for  another 
pistol."  "  I  cannot,"  he  quavered  out,  "  I  cannot 
hold  the  gun."  She  pushed  it  into  his  hands,  held 
up  his  arm,  aimed  for  him,  and  between  them  they 
pulled  the  trigger.  In  a  second  all  was  utter  dark 
ness  and  stillness  :  they  had  hit  the  highwayman. 
He  pitched  forward,  fell  on  his  lantern,  put  it  out, 
and  lay  as  one  dead.  Here  was  a  situation  for  a 
good,  thrifty,  staid  Albany  vrouw,  a  dying  husband 
on  one  side,  a  dead  highwayman  on  the  other,  all  in 
utter  darkness.  She  ran  for  coals  to  the  barroom 
and  kitchen  fires.  Both  were  wet  and  black.  She 
had  no  tinder  box,  coals  must  be  brought  from  a 
neighbor's.  She  suddenly  bethought  of  an  unusual 
fire  that  had  been  lighted  in  the  parlor  the  previous 
evening  for  customers,  where  still  might  be  a  live 
coal.  This  was  her  good  fortune,  and  with  lighted 
candle  she  proceeded  to  the  scene  of  attack.  Pye 


398  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

lay  in  a  swoon  on  the  bed,  but  by  this  time  the 
highwayman  had  vanished  ;  and  safe  and  untouched 
under  the  bed  were  five  hundred  dollars  in  gold  and 
five  hundred  more  in  bills,  which,  it  is  plain,  Pye 
himself  had  wholly  forgotten  in  his  fright. 

In  the  meantime  where  were  the  two  "knights 
of  the  bedchamber,"  as  the  chap-book  calls  them  ? 
Far  more  silently  than  the  robber  they  feared  had 
they  slid  downstairs,  and  away  from  the  tavern  into 
hiding,  until  the  highwayman  rode  past  them. 

They  then  tracked  him  by  trails  of  blood,  and 
soon  saw  him  dismounted  and  rolling  in  the  snow 
as  if  to  quench  the  flow  of  blood.  Though  they 
knew  he  was  terribly  wounded  and  they  were  two 
to  one,  they  stole  past  him  at  a  safe  distance  in 
silence  to  the  protection  of  the  town,  where  they 
raised  the  cry  of  "  A  robber !  Watch  !  Murder ! 
Help  !  A  band  of  highwaymen  !  Pye  is  dead  !  " 
Oh,  how  bravely  they  bawled  and  shouted !  and 
soon  a  hue  and  cry  was  started  from  end  tc  end  of 
Albany  town. 

With  an  extraordinary  lack  of  shrewdness  which 
seemed  to  characterize  the  whole  of  this  episode 
of  violence,  and  which  proved  Johnson  no  trained 
"swift-nick,"  as  Charles  II.  called  highwaymen, 
instead  of  making  off  to  some  of  the  smaller  town? 
or  into  the  country,  he  rode  back  to  Albany;  and 
soon  the  night-capped  heads  thrust  from  the  little 
Dutch  windows,  and  terrified  men  leaning  out  over 
the  Dutch  doors,  and  the  few  amazed  groups  in  the 
streets  saw  a  fleet  horseman,  hatless,  with  bloody 
handkerchief  bound  around  his  head,  come  gallop- 


Knights  of  the   Road  399 

ing  and  thundering  through  Albany,  down  one 
street,  then  back  again  to  the  river.  When  he 
reached  the  quay,  the  horse  fearlessly  sprang  with 
out  a  moment's  trembling  a  terrible  leap,  eight  feet 
perpendicular,  twenty  feet  lateral,  out  on  the  ice. 
All  screamed  out  that  horse  and  rider  would  go 
through  the  ice  and  perish.  But  the  ice  was 
strong,  and  soon  horse  and  rider  were  out  of  sight ; 
but  mounted  men  were  now  following  the  distant 
sound  of  hoofs,  and  when  the  outlaw  reached  what 
he  thought  was  the  opposite  shore,  but  what  was 
really  a  marshy  island,  one  bold  pursuer  rode  up 
after  him.  The  robber  turned,  fired  at  him  at  ran 
dom,  and  the  Albany  brave  fled  in  dismay  back  to 
his  discreet  neighbors. 

But  honor  and  courage  was  now  appearing  across 
the  ice  in  the  figure  of  Captain  Winne,  the  penny- 
post,  who  was  heard  to  mutter  excitedly  in  his  semi- 
Dutch  dialect:  "Mine  Cott !  vat  leeps  das  horse 
has  mate  !  vull  dwenty  feet !  Dunder  and  bliksem  ! 
he's  der  tuyfel  for  rooning !  "  Winne  was  an  old 
Indian  fighter,  and  soon  he  boldly  grappled  the 
highwayman,  who  drew  a  dagger  on  him.  Winne 
knocked  it  from  his  hand.  The  highwayman  grap 
pled  with  him,  wrenched  away  his  club,  and  hit  the 
pennypost  a  blow  on  his  mouth  which  loosened  all 
his  front  teeth  (which,  the  chap-book  says,  "  Winne 
afterwards  took  out  at  his  leisure  ").  Winne  then 
dallied  no  longer;  he  pulled  down  the  handkerchief 
from  the  robber's  forehead,  twisted  it  around  his 
neck,  and  choked  him.  In  the  morning  twilight 
the  great  band  of  cautious  Albanians  gravely  ad- 


400 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


vanced,  bound  the  highwayman  securely,  and  car 
ried  him  in  triumph  back  to  jail.  He  was  placed 
in  heavy  irons,  when  he  said,  "  Iron  me  as  you  will, 
you  can  hold  me  but  a  short  time."  All  thought 
he  meant  to  attempt  an  escape,  but  he  spoke  with 
fuller  meaning;  he  felt  himself  mortally  wounded. 

They  put  an  iron  belt 
around  his  waist  and 
fastened  it  by  a  heavy 
chain  to  a  staple  in  the 
floor.  They  placed 
great  rings  around  his 
ankles,  chained  them 
to  the  floor,  and  then 
chainedankle-bands  and 
belt  together.  They 
would  have  put  an  iron 
collar  and  chain-  on  him 
also,  but  he  said,  "  Gen 
tlemen  !  have  some 
mercy!"  and  a  horrible 
wound  at  the  base  of 
the  brain  made  them 
desist. 

Poor  Mrs.Pye  visited 
him,  with  much  distress 

of  spirit,  and  sympathized  with  him  and  grieved 
over  him  as  he  lay  face  downward  on  the  stone 
floor.  And  it  arouses  a  sense  of  amused  indigna 
tion  to  know  that  he  asked  earnestly  for  Pye  and 
expressed  deep  regret  at  having  injured  him — he 
wasn't  badly  hurt,  anyway.  Our  heroine,  Dame 


Sign-board  of  Williams  Tavern. 


Knights  of  the   Road  401 

Pye,  certainly  deserved  a  better  and  braver  husband, 
and  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  she  outlived  Pye  and 
found,  if  not  a  more  courageous  mate,  certainly  a 
very  fine  young  one  —  her  bar-keeper,  forty  years 
younger  than  herself. 

The  highwayman  escaped  the  tree,  for  he  died  in 
jail.  There  is  reason  to  believe  he  was  a  South 
erner  of  good  birth.  The  horse  was  so  widely 
described  and  exploited  that  his  story  reached  a  Vir 
ginia  gentleman,  his  real  owner,  from  whom  he  had 
been  stolen.  The  sagacious  animal  had  been  trained 
to  follow  a  peculiar  whistle,  and  to  jump  at  any 
thing.  The  gentleman  proved  his  ownership  and 
took  the  splendid  animal-hero  home. 

In  the  year  1821  a  highwayman  was  executed 
in  Massachusetts,  Mike  Martin,  or  Captain  Light- 
foot,  who  really  was  a  very  satisfactory  outlaw,  a 
real  hightoby-crack,  though  he  was  only  an  im 
ported  one,  not  a  native  production.  His  life,  as 
given  by  himself,  is  most  entertaining.  He  had 
to  his  father  a  Kilkenny  Irishman,  who  appren 
ticed  the  boy  early  in  life  to  his  uncle,  a  brewer. 
The  brewer  promptly  beat  him,  he  ran  home,  and 
got  a  bigger  beating.  In  truth,  he  was  a  most  beat 
able  brat.  When  sixteen  years  old  he  joined  the 
Ribbonmen,  a  political  organization  that  committed 
many  petty  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  besides  regu 
lating  landlords.  When  his  father  found  out  the 
kind  of  company  kept  by  the  young  rascal,  he  beat 
him  again.  Mike  promptly  took  as  a  salve  five 
guineas  from  his  father's  trunk,  opening  it  with  a 
master-key  which  had  been  kindly  made  for  him  by 


402  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

a  Ribbonman,  and  which  he  was  enjoined  to  keep 
constantly  with  him  as  a  conveniency.  He  says,  "  I 
had  always  stolen  in  a  small  way."  With  his  five 
guineas  he  ran  away  to  Dublin,  and  pretended  refor 
mation  and  remorse  so  successfully  to  a  cousin  that 
the  latter  employed  him  in  a  distillery.  In  return 
he  stole  petty  amounts  continually  from  his  cousin's 
money  chest,  by  help  of  his  master-key.  Soon  he 
was  a  settled  outcast,  and  at  this  juncture  met  at  an 
inn  a  fine,  handsome  clergyman,  about  forty  years 
of  age,  over  six  feet  tall,  dark-eyed,  of  great  muscle 
and  strength  ;  his  name  was  John  Doherty.  In 
spite  of  his  black  clerical  dress  he  seemed  somewhat 
mysterious  in  character,  and  after  pumping  Martin 
he  disclosed  in  turn  that  he  was  the  famous  high 
wayman,  Captain  Thunderbolt. 

He  at  once  claimed  Martin  as  one  of  the  real 
sort,  and  they  were  talking  over  a  union  of  forces 
and  schemes  when  a  party  of  dragoons  came  to  the 
inn  in  pursuit  of  Thunderbolt.  He  escaped  through 
a  window,  but  in  a  week's  time  came  back  dressed 
as  a  Quaker  and  joined  his  companion,  who  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  thus  blossomed  out  as  a  real 
knight  of  the  road,  as  Captain  Lightfoot,  with  a 
pair  of  fine  pistols  and  a  splendid  horse,  "  Down 
the  Banks,"  to  keep  company  with  Thunderbolt's 
"  Beefsteak."  Thus  equipped,  these  two  gentlemen 
rode  as  gentlemen  should,  to  the  hunt.  There, 
alone,  to  prove  what  he  could  do,  Mike  Martin 
robbed  four  huntsmen,  and  to  his  pride  was  mis 
taken  by  them  for  Thunderbolt  himself.  But  the 
huntsmen  soon  had  their  turn  ;  sheriffs  and  soldiers 


Knights  of  the  Road  403 

drove  the  two  knights  to  the  woods  ;  and  after  weeks 
of  uncomfortable  hiding  Mike  Martin  was  properly 
penitent  and  longed  for  an  honest  man's  seat  in  a 
tavern  taproom.  There  is  no  retreat,  however,  in 
this  career;  the  pair  of  robbers  next  entered  a  house, 
called  all  the  people  together,  and  robbed  the  entire 
trembling  lot.  Through  Scotland  and  Ireland  they 
rode  till  the  highways  got  too  hot  for  them,  adver 
tisements  were  everywhere,  a  hue  and  cry  was  out, 
and  Thunderbolt  fled  to  America. 

Mike  Martin,  terrified  at  the  multiplying  adver 
tisements  and  rewards,  disguised  himself,  and  sailed 
for  New  York.  Quarrels  and  mutiny  on  shipboard 
brought  him  ashore  at  Salem,  where  he  worked  for  a 
time  for  Mr.  Derby.  He  soon  received  a  sum 
of  money  from  his  father's  estate  and  set  up  as  a 
brewer.  But  Salem  Yankees  were  too  sharp  for  the 
honest  highwayman,  and  he  lost  it  all  and  had  to 
take  again  to  the  road.  From  Portsmouth  to  Can 
ada, —  from  pedlers,  from  gentlemen,  —  on  horse 
back,  in  chaises,  —  he  ran  his  rig;  finally,  in  spite 
of  advertisements  in  newspapers  and  printed  reports 
and  handbills  at  every  country  inn,  he  worked  his 
way  back  to  New  Hampshire ;  and  on  a  moonlight 
night  he  found  himself  horseless  in  the  bushes. 
Two  men  rode  up,  and  one  held  back  as  Mike 
Martin  stepped  forth.  "  Who's  that  ? "  said  the 
foremost  man.  "  I'm  the  bold  Doherty  from  Scot 
land,"  said  he,  taking  Thunderbolt's  name  and 
not  in  vain.  "And  what  are  you  after?"  said  the 
shaking  traveller.  "  Stop  and  I'll  show  you." 
Mike  then  presented  his  pistol  and  demanded  of 


404  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

the  gentleman  his  money  or  his  life.  Promptly 
money  and  papers  were  turned  over.  "Stand  back 
by  the  fence,"  said  the  highwayman.  "  Here,  Jack, 
look  after  this  fellow,"  he  swaggered  to  make  the 
traveller  think  he  had  an  accomplice ;  and  he 
mounted  the  fine  horse  and  rode  off.  He  robbed 
some  one  in  some  way  every  few  miles  on  the  road 
till  he  was  back  in  Salem.  There  he  promptly 
acquiesced  to  the  decorous  customs  of  the  New 
England  town,  and  went  to  a  lecture ;  on  his  way 
home  from  his  intellectual  refreshment,  he  asked 
the  time  of  a  well-dressed  man.  "  Can't  you  hear 
the  clock  strike  ?  "  was  the  surly  answer.  "  I'll 
hear  your  watch  strike  or  strike  your  head,"  was  the 
surprising  reply.  Out  came  watch  and  money  with 
the  cowardly  alacrity  ever  displayed  at  his  demands. 
From  thence  to  the  Sun  Tavern  in  Boston,  where 
he  learned  of  a  grand  party  at  Governor  Brooks's 
at  Medford.  He  said  in  his  confession,  "  I  thought 
there  might  be  some  fat  ones  there  and  decided  to 
be  of  the  company."  After  an  evening  of  astonish 
ing  bravado  and  recklessness,  displaying  himself  at 
taverns  and  on  the  road,  he  held  up  Major  Bray 
and  his  wife  on  the  Medford  turnpike,  near  the 
Ten  Mile  Farm  which  once  belonged  to  Governor 
Winthrop.  The  gentlefolk  were  in  "a  genteel  horse 
and  chaise."  Madam  Bray  began  to  try  to  conceal 
her  watch-chain,  but  Captain  Lightfoot  politely  told 
her  he  never  robbed  ladies.  Major  Bray  turned  over 
his  watch  and  pocketbook,  but  begged  to  keep  his 
papers.  Martin  said  later,  "The  circumstances  as 
given  by  Major  Bray  at  the  trial  were  correct,  only 


Knights  of  the  Road 


405 


he  forgot  to  state  that  he  was  much  frightened  and 
trembled  like  a  leaf."  After  stopping  other  chaises, 
he  took  the  surprisingly  foolhardy  step  of  going  to 
the  tavern  at  Medford,  where  he  found  already  much 
excitement  about  the  robbery  of  Major  Bray,  and 


met  many  suspicious 
glances.  He  rode  off, 
and  soon  a  crowd  was 
after  him  crying,  "  Stop 
Thief." 

In  his  mad  flight  his 
stirrup  broke,  he  fell  from  his  horse  and  dislocated 
his  shoulder;  thence  through  fields  and  marshes  on 
foot  till  he  dropped  senseless  from  pain  and  fatigue. 
When  he  recovered,  he  tied  his  suspenders  to  a 
tree  at  one  end  and  the  other  end  to  his  wrist  and 


406  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

pulled  the  shoulder  into  place.  Then  by  day  and 
night  through  farms  and  woods  to  Holliston.  In  the 
taproom  of  the  tavern  he  called  for  brandy,  but  he 
saw  such  a  good  description  of  himself  with  a 
reward  for  his  capture,  while  he  was  drinking  off  his 
glass,  it  took  away  his  appetite  for  the  dinner  he 
had  ordered. 

He  was  then  tired  of  foot  travel,  and  stole  a 
horse  and  rode  to  Springfield.  Here  he  put  up  at 
a  tavern,  where  he  slept  so  sound  that  he  was  only 
awakened  by  landlord,  sheriff,  and  a  score  of  helpers 
who  had  traced  the  horse  to  Springfield.  Major 
Bray's  robbery  was  unknown  there,  but  he  was 
tried  for  it,  however,  when  it  was  found  out,  on 
October  21,  and  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death. 
He  cheerfully  announced  that  he  should  escape  if 
he  could,  but  he  was  put  in  heavy  irons.  When  in 
jail  at  Lechmere  Point  he  struck  the  turnkey,  Mr. 
Coolidge,  on  the  head  with  his  severed  chain.  He 
pushed  past  the  stunned  keeper,  thrust  open  the 
door,  and  ran  for  his  life.  He  was  captured  in  a 
cornfield  and  Coolidge  was  the  man  who  grabbed 
him.  It  was  found  that  he  had  filed  through  the 
chain  with  a  case-knife,  filled  the  cut  with  a  paste 
of  tallow  and  coal-dust,  and  though  the  link  had 
been  frequently  examined  the  cut  had  never  been 
noted.  He  declared  he  would  have  escaped,  only 
the  heavy  chain  and  weight  which  he  had  worn  had 
made  him  lose  the  full  use  of  his  legs,  and  he  had 
to  run  with  one  end  of  the  chain  and  a  seventeen- 
pound  weight  in  his  hand. 

He  was  executed  in  December  and  behaved  with 


Knights  of  the  Road  407 

great  propriety  and  sobriety.  He  showed  neither 
cant,  levity,  nor  bravado.  He  prayed  silently  just 
before  his  death,  professed  penitence,  and  went  to 
the  gallows  with  composure.  He  arranged  his  dress 
and  hair  carefully  before  a  glass,  showed  a  kind  dis 
position  to  all,  and  finally  gave  the  signal  himself 
for  the  drop.  A  tall  and  handsome  scamp,  with 
piercing  blue  eyes  and  fine  complexion,  his  marked 
intelligence  and  sweetness  of  expression  made  him 
most  attractive.  His  frame  was  perfect  in  sym 
metry,  and  he  was  wonderful  in  his  strength  and 
endurance  —  truly  an  ideal  highwayman;  it  must 
have  been  a  pleasure  to  meet  him. 

Thus  it  is  very  evident  that  neither  highway  rob 
bery  nor  highwaymen  thrived  in  America.  They 
mended  their  ways  very  promptly  —  and  apparently 
they  wanted  to.  A  very  striking  example  of  this 
is  in  the  American  career  of  Captain  Thunderbolt, 
the  friend  and  teacher  of  Mike  Martin.  When  he 
set  foot  on  American  soil,  he  tamely  abandoned  all 
his  old  picturesque  wicked  ways.  He  settled  first 
in  Dummerston*,  Vermont,  where  he  taught  school 
and  passed  his  leisure  hours  in  seclusion  and  study. 
He  then  set  up  as  a  physician,  in  Newfane,  Ver 
mont,  calling  himself  Dr.  Wilson,  and  he  moved 
from  thence  to  Brattleboro,  where  his  house  stood 
on  the  present  site  of  the  railroad  station.  He 
married  the  daughter  of  a  prominent  Brattleboro 
farmer,  but  was  too  stern  and  reserved  to  prove 
a  good  American  husband.  He  lived  to  be  about 
sixty-five  years  old,  and  had  a  good  and  lucrative 
professional  practice. 


408  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

I  know  two  authentic  cases  of  highway  robbery 
of  stage-coaches  in  New  England  ;  one  was  from 
the  driver,  of  a  large  sum  of  money  which  had  been 
entrusted  to  him.  It  was  his  wife  who  stole  it.  She 
was  not  prosecuted,  for  she  returned  the  money,  and 
it  was  believed  she  would  not  have  taken  it  from  any 
one  else.  The  other  theft  was  that  of  a  bonnet.  Just 
as  a  stage  was  to  start  off  from  a  tavern  door,  a  woman 
jumped  on  the  step,  seized  the  bonnet  of  a  woman 
passenger,  tore  it  from  her  head,  and  made  off  with 
it  before  the  outraged  traveller's  shrieks  could  reach 
the  driver  and  stop  the  coach  ;  and  —  as  the  chroni 
cler  solemnly  recounted  to  me  —  the  robber  was  never 
heard  of  more.  These  two  highway  women  have  the 
honors  of  the  road. 

It  may  be  deemed  somewhat  grandiloquent  to 
term  to-day  this  theft  of  a  bonnet  "  highway  rob 
bery  "  ;  but  I  can  assure  you  a  fine  bonnet  was  a 
most  respected  belonging  in  olden  times,  and  if  of 
real  Dunstable  or  fine  Leghorn  straw  and  trimmed 
with  real  ostrich  plumes  it  might  be  also  a  costly 
belonging,  and  to  steal  it  was  no- light  matter  — 
indeed  it  was  a  hanging  matter.  For  in  Boston, 
when  John  Hancock  was  governor,  a  woman  was 
hanged  for  snatching  a  bonnet  from  another's  head 
and  running  off  with  it. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

TAVERN    GHOSTS 

ENGLAND  was  ever  the  birthplace  and  abid 
ing-place  of  ghosts.  Thoroughly  respectable 
most  of  these  old  residents  were,  their  mani 
festations  being  stereotyped  with  all  the  convention 
alities  of  the  spirit  world.  When  the  colonists 
came  to  the  new  world  the  friendly  and  familiar 
spectres  did  not  desert  their  old  companions,  but 
emigrated  also,  and  "  sett  down  satysfyed  "  in  en 
larged  log  cabins,  and  houses  built  of  American 
pine,  just  as  the  planters  did ;  and  in  these  humbler 
domiciles  both  classes  of  inhabitants  were  soon  as 
much  at  home  as  they  had  been  in  oaken  manor 
houses  and  stone  castles  in  the  "  ould  countrie." 
In  New  England  the  tavern  was  often  the  chosen 
place  of  abode  and  of  visitation  of  spirits;  like  other 
travellers  on  life's  weary  round,  these  travellers  on 
the  round  of  the  dead  found  their  warmest  welcome 
at  an  inn.  Naturally  new  conditions  developed 
new  phenomena  ;  the  spirits  of  unhappy  peasants, 
of  cruel  barons,  of  hated  heirs  at  law,  of  lovelorn 
ladies,  found  novel  companions,  among  whom  the 
manitous  and  wraiths  of  the  red  men  cut  the  stran 
gest  figure.  The  ghosts  of  pirates,  too,  were  prime 

409 


4i o  Stage-coach   and  Tavern   Days 

favorites  in  America,  especially  in  seaboard  towns, 
but  were  never  such  frequent  visitors,  nor  on  the 
whole  such  picturesque  visitors,  as  were  the  spirits 
of  Indians  :  — 

"  The  ghosts  that  come  to  haunt  us 
From  the  kingdom  of  Ponemah, 
From  the  land  of  the  Hereafter." 

I  have  known  a  good  many  tavern  ghosts  of 
Indians  —  though  their  deeds  as  recounted  are  often 
far  from  being  original  or  ab 
original.  Reuben  Jencks  owned 
a  tavern  that  had  a  very  good 
Indian  ghost.  This  ghost  was 
not  one  of  the  inconsiderate  kind 
that  comes  when  you  are  awake, 
and  half  scares  you  to  death ; 
this  noble  red  man  stole  in 
silently  by  night,  so  silently  that 
the  sleeper  never  awakened,  and 
hence  was  never  frightened,  for 
nothing  seems  overstrange,  un 
canny,  or  impossible  in  a  dream. 
Evenwhen  the  Indianbrandished 
his  tomahawk  and  seized  the 
visited  one  by  the  hair  of  the 
head,  it  never  seemed  to  be 
anything  more  than  might  be  expected,  nor  did  he 
ever  appear  overfierce  in  his  threats  and  gestures. 
Nevertheless  in  course  of  time  his  appearances  gave 
a  name  to  the  apartment  he  visited ;  it  came  to 
be  known  as  the  Indian  Chamber.  And  travelling 


Sign-board  of  Dewey  Tavern. 


Tavern  Ghosts  41 1 

chapmen,    pedlers,   or   traders  who   had   been  over 
the  route  frequently,  and  had  heard  the  tale  at  every 
trip,  sometimes  objected  to  sleeping  in  the  room — 
not  that  they  were  afraid  —  but  it  was  somewhat  of 
a  nuisance. 

It  was  not  known  that  any  Indian  ever  had  re 
ceived  aught  of  injury  at  the  hands  of  any  at  the 
Black  Horse  Tavern,  save  the  derivative  injury  from 
too  frequent  and  liberal  draughts  of  hard  cider, 
which  was  freely  dealt  out  to  every  sorry  brave  who 
wandered  there.  There  were  some  simpletons  who 
said  that  the  Indian's  visits  were  to  resent  the  injury 
done  to  another  old  inn,  a  rival  down  the  road,  named 
The  Pine  Tree,  but  which  bore  the  figure  of  an 
Indian  on  its  sign-board,  and  was  oftener  known  as 
The  Indian  Tavern.  This  was  nonsense.  The 
Pine  Tree  had  no  visitors  because  it  did  not  deserve 
them,  had  a  vile  table  and  a  worse  stable,  while  the 
Black  Horse  Tavern  gave  the  best  of  the  earth  to 
its  guests. 

Reuben  Jencks  had  not  been  born  in  this  tavern. 
He  inherited  it  from  an  uncle,  and  he  was  already 
married  and  had  a  family  of  small  children  when 
the  tavern  came  to  him.  Another  baby  was  born 
soon  after,  and  as  the  Indian  Chamber  was  the 
largest  in  the  house,  Mrs.  Jencks  quietly  disposed 
of  the  objections  of  timid  and  superstitious  chapmen 
and  pedlers  by  taking  the  room  for  her  own  sleeping 
apartment. 

It  would  seem  to  be  a  brave  warrior,  albeit  a 
savage  and  a  ghost,  who  would  enter  a  room  as 
densely  populated  as  that  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jencks. 


4I2 


Stage-coach  and   Tavern    Days 


There  was  for  the  repose  of  landlord  and  landlady  a 
vast  four-post  bedstead  with  curtains,  valance,  and 
tester  of  white  dimity  ;  and  under  this  high  bed  was 
thrust  by  day  a  low  trundle  bed.  At  night  it  was 
drawn  out,  and  upon  it  slept  the  three  little  daugh 
ters  of  the  Jencks  family. 
Upon  an  old  high- 
backed  settle  set  on 
rockers  slept  Reuben 
Jencks,  Jr.,  the  deposed 

'  s~*      .   I  j   W      king  of  the  family.     Ad- 

I  justable  bars  slipped  in 
the  front  of  this  settle 
made  it  a  safe  crib. 
This  stood  on  one  side 
of  the  fireplace,  and  the 
new  baby  reposed,  when 
he  slept  at  all, in  a  deeply 
hooded  mahogany 
cradle.  There  was  a 
great  fire  ever  and  cheer 
fully  burning  in  the  fire 
place  —  and  yet  to  this 
chamber  of  infantile  in 
nocence  and  comfort 
came  the  saturnine  form  of  the  Indian  ghost. 

He  was,  in  one  sense,  a  thoroughly  satisfactory 
apparition,  being  suitably  clad  in  full  trappings  of 
war,  buckskin  and  turkey  feathers,  bear's  teeth  and 
paint ;  he  was  none  of  those  miserable  half-breed 
travesties  of  Indians  who  sometimes  still  sneaked 
round  to  the  tavern  kitchen,  clad  in  vile  clothes  of 


Cutter's  Tavern  Sign-board. 


Tavern  Ghosts  413 

civilization,  so  greasy  and  worn  and  dirty  that  a 
blanket  would  have  been  as  stately  in  comparison  as 
a  Roman  toga  ;  Indians  devoid  of  bravery,  dignity, 
and  even  of  cunning,  whose  laziness,  high  cheek 
bones,  and  hair  coarse  as  a  horse's  tail,  and  their 
unvarying  love  of  rum,  were  the  only  proofs  of 
Indian  blood  ;  whose  skin,  even,  had  turned  from 
copper  tawny  to  dingy  yellow. 

To  Mrs.  Jencks,  reposing  in  state  among  her 
abundant  goose  feathers  on  the  high  bedstead,  came 
one  night  the  spectre  in  her  dreams,  pulled  off  her 
nightcap,  seized  her  by  her  long  hair,  dragged  her 
downstairs  and  out  of  doors,  pointed  fiercely  to 
the  roots  of  the  great  cedar  at  the  gate,  muttering 
all  the  while  in  broken  English  of  avenging  an 
insult  to  his  race.  As  Mrs.  Jencks  awoke  wholly 
uninjured,  she  merely  laughed  at  her  vision,  say 
ing  that  all  the  talk  she  had  heard  had  made  her 
dream  it.  But  when  she  had  dreamt  it  three  times, 
three  nights  running,  and  the  ghost  kept  speaking 
of  an  act  of  insult  to  him,  that  it  must  be  avenged, 
removed,  etc.,  and  kept  ever  pointing  to  the  base 
of  the  cedar  tree,  Ben  Jencks  insisted  on  digging 
for  what  he  felt  sure  was  hidden  treasure.  He  and 
his  menials  dug  deep  and  dug  wide,  and  nearly 
killed  the  splendid  old  cedar,  but  found  nothing. 
The  next  time  the  ghost  appeared  he  dragged  the 
astral  body  of  Mrs.  Jencks  down  to  the  other 
cedar  tree  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  gateway. 
Ben  Jencks  dug  again  with  the  same  result. 
Neither  he  nor  the  ghost  was  daunted,  and  a  fine 
apple  tree  in  the  garden  next  the  orchard  was  the 


4H 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


r.J 


next  victim.  It  was  a  Sapson  apple  tree,  the  va 
riety,  which  all  the  children  loved,  and  it  ceased 
bearing  for  several  years.  As  it 
wilted  and  pined  after  the  rough 
spading  at  its  roots,  Mrs.  Jencks 
doggedly  vowed  never  to  repeat 
any  of  the  ghost's  lies  again. 

We  must  not  be  too  contemptu 
ous  of  this  unprincipled  Indian 
spirit.  He  simply  belonged  to  a 
class  of  ghosts  of  whom  Andrew 
Lang  says  complainingly  that  they 
have  a  passion  for  pointing  out 
places  and  saying  treasure  or  skele 
tons  are  buried  therein;  whereas 
it  always  proves  that  nothing  of 
the  sort  is  ever  found.  There  are 
liars  among  the  living  as  well  as  of 
the  dead,  and  Mrs.  Jencks's  Indian 
never  said  it  was  a  treasure  —  he 
only  hinted  darkly  at  the  buried 
thing  being  associated  with  some 
degradation  or  insult  to  the  Indian 
race.  The  treasure  was  all  in  Ben 
Jencks's  brain  —  and  the  brains  of 
his  friends.  Mrs.  Jencks's  silence 
to  her  husband  did  not  prevent 
her  however  from  having  several 
treasure-hunts  alone  by  herself,  after  the  Indian's 
renewed  visits  and  pointing  ringer,  for  he  changed 
nothing  in  his  programme  save  the  spot  he  indi 
cated.  She  spent  an  entire  day  pulling  and  poking 


Clock  with  Painting  of 
Pahquoique  House. 


Tavern  Ghosts  415 

among  the  attic  rafters.  She  rolled  out  several 
empty  cider  barrels  from  a  distant  cellar  corner, 
and  even  dug  a  hole  there  secretly.  Her  husband 
at  last  discovered  her  mysteriously  poking  a  hole 
down  a  disused  well,  and  promptly  had  the  well 
cleaned  out ;  but  of  course  nothing  was  found  save 
the  usual  well  contents,  and  thus  the  years  rolled  on. 

One  morning  Lucy  Jencks  whimpered  that  the 
Indian  had  pulled  her  out  of  bed  in  the  night  and 
pointed  out  to  her  where  to  hunt.  Lucy  was  nearly 
eleven  years  old  ;  a  clever,  sharp,  active  little  Yankee, 
who  helped  to  shell  peas  and  string  beans  and  scour 
pewter,  and  who  could  knit  famously  and  spin 
pretty  well.  This  brought  her  naturally  in  the 
company  of  her  elders,  and  she  proved  the  influence 
of  the  ghost  talk  she  had  heard  by  repeating  the 
Indian's  words  that  "the  derision  of  his  ancient 
race,  the  degradation  of  his  ancient  customs,  must 
be  avenged."  Derision  and  degradation  are  too 
big  words  for  a  little  girl  to  use  untutored,  or  for  an 
Indian  ghost  either;  and  in  truth  they  were  not  the 
precise  words  he  had  spoken  at  first.  But  Parson 
Pillsbury  had  been  present  at  the  digging  under  the 
Sapson  apple  tree,  a  piously  sceptical  but  secretly 
interested  spectator,  and  he  had  thus  explained  the 
somewhat  broken  "Injun-talk"  which  Mrs.  Jencks 
reported.  It  proves  the  tractability  and  intelligence 
of  this  ghost  of  a  heathen  that  he  ever  after  used 
the  words  of  the  Puritan  minister. 

The  ghost  pointed  out  to  Lucy  Jencks  a  very 
inaccessible  spot  to  be  searched.  It  was  the  farther 
end  of  a  loft  over  a  shed,  and  had  to  be  entered  by 


41 6  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

a  short  ladder  from  a  leanto.  This  loft  was  packed 
solidly  with  the  accumulated  debris  of  three-quarters 
of  a  century,  portions  of  farm  tools,  poor  old  furni 
ture,  boxes,  barrels,  every  old  stuff  and  piece  that 
was  too  mean  even  for  the  main  attic,  in  which  were 
poor  enough  relics.  It  had  never  been  searched  or 
sorted  out  since  Ben  Jencks  came  to  the  tavern, 
and  I  doubt  whether  Mrs.  Jencks  would  have  lis 
tened  to  a  ransacking  then  but  for  one  circumstance, 
the  Jencks  family  were  going  to  leave  the  Black 
House  Tavern  —  and  they  really  ought  to  know  ex 
actly  what  was  in  it  ere  they  sold  it  with  its  contents. 
They  had  not  been  driven  from  the  family  home  by 
this  Indian  spirit  of  dreams,  but  by  a  more  powerful 
spirit  —  that  of  emigration.  Neighbors  and  friends 
in  Rutland  and  Worcester  were  going  to  Ohio  — 
that  strange  new  territory,  and  they  would  go  too. 
A  single  dead  Indian,  and  such  a  liar,  too,  seemed 
of  but  little  account  when  they  thought  of  the  infi 
nite  bands  of  very  live  Indians  in  their  chosen  home. 
Mrs.  Jencks  and  Lucy  climbed  the  ladder  to  the 
loft,  opened  the  single  shutter,  and  let  in  a  narrow 
dancing  ray  of  dusty  sunlight  on  the  crowded  deso 
lation  within.  Lucy  pointed  between  bars  and  bar 
rels  and  bags,  with  slender  white  finger,  at  a  large  and 
remote  box  which  a  slender,  strong,  copper-colored 
hand  had  pointed  out  to  her  in  her  dreams.  Her 
mother  sternly  sent  her  below  to  do  her  stent  at 
quilt-piecing,  and  she  tearfully  and  unwillingly  de 
scended.  It  was  nearly  an  hour  ere  the  strong  arms 
of  Mrs.  Jencks  had  dislodged  and  repacked  the 
unutterable  chaos  to  the  extent  of  reaching  the  box. 


Tavern  Ghosts 


417 


Clouds  of  dust  dimmed  the  air.  She  untied  and 
removed  a  rotten  rope  that  bound  the  box,  which 
even  in  the  dim  litter  looked  like  the  upper  half  of 
a  coffin.  Within  lay  something  swathed  in  linen 
bands  and  strips  of  old  flannel  —  newspapers  were 


Wright  Tavern,  Concord,  Massachusetts. 

then  too  precious  for  wrappings.  She  struck  it,  and 
there  came  a  faint  rattle  of  metal.  The  thought 
came  to  her  of  the  description  of  a  mummy  which 
she  had  read  a  few  nights  before  in  the  almanac. 
She  paused ;  then  twisted  in  and  among  the  boxes 
to  the  head  of  the  ladder.  She  could  hear  the  sound 


2E 


41 8  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

of  Perseverance  singing  a  hymn.  Perseverance  Ab 
bott  was  the  "  help,"  the  sister  of  a  farmer  neighbor, 
and  she  was  baking  "  rye  and  Injun  "  bread  for  the 
teamsters  who  would  stop  there  at  nightfall.  Mrs. 
Jencks  called  down,  "  Persy,  come  here  a  minute  !  " 
"  I'll  tell  her  to  come,"  piped  up  the  shrill  voice  of 
Lucy,  who  was  hovering  at  the  base  of  the  ladder 
and  evidently  meant  to  be  "  in  at  the  death."  Per 
severance  appeared,  floury  and  serene,  at  the  foot  of 
the  ladder.  "  I'll  come,"  she  said,  in  answer  to 
Mrs.  Jencks's  appeal  for  assistance,  "  because  I 
know  you're  scairt,  and  I  ain't  a-goin'  to  see  Ben 
Jencks  a-huntin  for  them  Indian  bones  again.  I've 
been  dyin',  anyway,  to  clear  this  out  ever  since  I 
come  here,  an'  this'll  be  the  beginnin'."  "  Persy," 
said  Mrs.  Jencks,  hesitatingly,  "  it  seems  to  be 
something  dead."  "  Dead  !  "  answered  her  hand 
maid,  "  I'll  bet  it's  dead  after  layin'  here  forty, 
perhaps  a  hundred  year  !  "  An  atmosphere  of  good 
sense  and  fearlessness  seemed  to  halo  her  about ; 
still  both  women  unwrapped  the  heavy  thing,  the 
mummy,  with  care.  A  bare  shining  scalp  came  first 
to  view.  "  It's  a  wig-block,"  shouted  Perseverance 
in  a  moment,  "  yes,  and  here's  curling  irons  and 
wire  wig-springs." 

It  was  "grandpa's  wig-block,"  so  Reuben  Jencks 
said,  when  he  saw  it  later ;  his  grandfather  had 
added  to  his  duties  of  tavern-keeper,  roadmaster, 
selectman,  and  deacon,  that  of  wig-maker.  And  in 
that  day,  when  all  men  of  any  station  wore  hand 
some  flowing  wigs,  and  all,  even  poor  men,  wore 
wigs  of  some  kind,  it  was  a  calling  of  importance. 


Tavern  Ghosts 


419 


Moreover,  an  Indian  with  a  tomahawk  cut  but  a 
sorry  figure  when  he  tried  to  scalp  a  man  who  wore 
a  wig  ;  it  was 
a  deriding  in 
sult  to  the  war 
like  customs  of 
the  whole  Ind 
ian  race. 

There  is  a 
fine  old  brick 
tavern  still 
standing-  in  a 

O 

New  England 
seaboard  town, 
and  now  doing 
service  as  a 
rather  disrep 
utable  road 
house.  It  is  a 
buildingrigidly 
square,  set  due 
north,  south, 
east,  and  west, 
with  four  long, 
narrow  doors 
opening  over 
broad  door- 
stones  to  the 

four      ends      of         w  Sign-board  of  Moses  Hill's  Inn 

the  earth.      A 

long  tail  of  summer  and  winter  kitchens,  a  wash 
room,  brew-house,  smoke-house,  wood-rooms,  sheds, 


420  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

barns,  piggeries,  pigeon-houses,  hen-houses,  once 
stretched  a  hundred  feet  or  more  adown  the  road, 
part  of  which  is  now  torn  down.  Each  joint  of  the 
tail  helped  loyally  in  olden  times  to  furnish  good 
cheer  to  the  traveller.  The  great  square  rooms  of 
the  main  house  are  amply  furnished;  one  was  a 
taproom,  and  in  each  second-story  room  still  are  two 
double  beds,  save  in  the  corner  room  next  the 
kitchen  tail  of  the  house,  where  stands  nailed  firmly 
to  the  floor  of  the  room  a  somewhat  battered  oaken 
table.  A  little  open  staircase  in  the  corner  of  this 
room  leads  down  to  the  working  end  of  the  house, 
and  was  used  in  olden  days  to  carry  supplies  to  the 
upper  table  from  the  lower  kitchen. 

It  has  been  many  a  year  since  good  cheer  was 
spread  on  that  broad  oaken  board,  though  at  one 
time  it  was  the  favorite  dining  place  of  a  choice 
brotherhood  of  old  salts,  called  the  Mariners'  Club, 
who  gathered  there  when  on  shore  to  tell  tales  of 
wild  privateering,  and  of  sharp  foreign  trade,  and 
to  plan  new  and  profitable  ventures.  Many  of 
these  Mariners'  Clubs  and  Marine  Societies  existed 
in  seaport  towns  at  that  golden  time  in  New  Eng 
land's  marine  commercial  history. 

This  room  was  the  scene  about  seventy-five  years 
ago  of  a  somewhat  unusual  expression  of  feminine 
revolt  —  that  is,  both  the  expression  and  the  revolt 
were  unusual.  One  of  the  most  constant  fre 
quenters  of  the  tavern,  the  heaviest  eater  and  deep 
est  drinker,  the  greatest  money-spender  at  these 
Mariners'  dinners,  was  one  Captain  Sam  Blood,  who 
ran  a  large  coasting  brig,  which  made  but  short 


Tavern   Ghosts 


421 


trips    to  Atlantic  seaports.     Thus  he   was  ever  on 

hand  for  tavern   fun.     He  had  a  large  and  rather 

helpless  family  which   he  kept  somewhat  in   retreat 

on    a    gloomy   farm    two 

miles  inland  ;  his  mother 

old  and  feeble,  yet  ever 

hard-working  ;     a     large 

number    of  untidy   chil 

dren,  and,  worst  of  all,  a 

sickly  wife,  a   tall,   gaunt 

woman  who  whined,  and 

whined,  and  ever  whined 

from    her    patch-covered 

couch,  over  the  frequent 

desertions  of  her  spouse 

to    the    tavern-table,  and 

his  wilful  waste  of  money, 

while     she     could    never 

leave    the    house.      One 

night    a    specially     good 

dinner     was     set    in    the 

Mariners'  room,  roast  and 

boiled    meats,    pies    and 

puddings,   a  grand  array 

of  full  pitchers,  decanters, 

and  bottles;  the  assembled 

group  of  old  salts  were 
about  to  ascend  from  the  taproom  to  seat  them 
selves  comfortably  at  the  round  table  for  solid 
work,  when  a  terrible  crash  and  scream  were 
heard,  each  seeming  louder  than  the  other,  and  before 
the  startled  eyes  of  the  landlord  and  his  guests, 


Qrfnk  fort 
(hirlfy.FooJ 

(he  hungry.] 
Lodging^. 


Sign-board  of  John  Nash's  Tavern. 


422  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

as  they  rushed  up  and  into  the  room,  there  were 
all  the  steaming  dishes,  all  the  streaming  bottles, 
with  table-cloth  and  plates  in  a  disorderly  hopeless 
wreck  on  the  floor.  "  Who  could  have  done 
it  ?  "  "  There  he  goes,"  shouted  one  captain,  as 
he  ran  to  the  window;  and,  surely  enough,  a  slender 
man  in  nautical  garb  was  seen  striking  out  from 
under  the  sheltering  walls  of  the  ell-kitchens  and 
sheds,  and  running  desperately  across  the  snowy 
fields.  Full  chase  was  given  and  the  marauder 
finally  captured  ;  he  was  swung  roughly  around  with 
oaths  and  blows,  when  sudden  silence  fell  on  all.  It 
was  Sam  Blood's  wife  in  Sam  Blood's  togs.  "I'll 
settle  for  this  dinner,"  said  Sam  Blood,  blackly. 

On  his  next  voyage  Mrs.  Blood  sailed  with  the 
captain.  With  the  usual  ethical  inconsistencies 
which  prevail  in  small  communities,  Mrs.  Sam 
Blood  the  despoiler  attracted  more  attention  and 
sympathy  than  Mrs.  Sam  Blood  the  poor,  hard 
working,  sickly  wife  ;  it  was  the  universal  talk  and 
decision  of  all  the  women  in  town  that  the  captain's 
wife  needed  a  change  of  scene ;  and  she  had  to  take 
it  in  that  ironical  form  decreed  to  the  wives  of  old- 
time  ship-owners,  in  a  voyage  of  uncertain  length 
and  certain  discomfort  on  a  sailing  vessel,  with  no 
woman  companion  and  the  doubtful  welcome  of  the 
male  members  of  the  crew.  Off  she  went  to  Savan 
nah.  At  that  port  she  was  no  better,  cried  all  the 
time  (the  first  mate  wrote  home),  and  seemed  little 
jke  the  woman  of  spirit  who  had  wrecked  the  Mari 
ners'  dinner.  The  captain  decided  to  go  with  a 
cargo  to  South  America  to  see  how  the  tropics  would 


Tavern   Ghosts  423 

serve  the  ailing  woman.  His  old  home  crew  shipped 
back  to  Boston,  not  caring  for  the  trip  far  south,  and 
a  crew  of  Creoles  and  negroes  was  taken  on  the  sup 
plemental  trip. 

When  Captain  Blood  and  his  schooner  at  last 
came  into  port  at  home,  he  landed  with  sombre 
countenance,  a  mourning  widower,  and  soon  was 
properly  clad  in  trappings  of  woe.  Mrs.  Sam 
Blood  was  no  more.  Her  husband  stated  briefly 
that  she  had  died  and  was  buried  at  sea  off  the 
island  of  Jamaica.  A  discreet  and  decent  term  of 
mourning  passed,  and  Mrs.  Blood,  as  is  the  way  of 
the  living  —  and  of  the  dead — was  quite  forgotten. 
Once  more  the  Mariners'  Club  was  to  have  a  din 
ner,  and  once  more  the  table  in  the  Mariners'  room 
was  spread  with  good  cheer  and  ample  drink.  Cap 
tain  Blood,  in  somewhat  mitigated  bereavement, 
was  among  the  thronging  guests  who  lingered  over 
a  final  stomach-warmer  at  the  bar.  The  landlord 
ran  out  of  the  room  and  roared  down  the  main 
stairs  that  dinner  was  ready,  and  even  as  he  spoke, 
crash  !  smash  !  came  a  din  from  the  Mariners'  room, 
and  there  was  all  the  dinner  and  all  the  broken 
bottles  with  the  table-cloth  and  the  upset  table  on 
the  floor.  It  was  a  very  unpleasant  reminder  to 
Sam  Blood  of  a  very  mortifying  event,  and  his 
friends  sympathized  with  him  in  silence.  This 
time  no  miscreant  could  be  found  in  house  or 
on  farm,  but  the  landlord  suspected  a  discharged 
and  ugly  servant,  who  might  have  run  down  the 
little  corner  staircase,  as  Mrs.  Blood  had  before 
him. 


424  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

The  ruined  dinner  was  replaced  by  another  a 
week  later.  The  guests  were  gathered,  the  land 
lord  was  bearing  a  last  roast  pig  aloft,  when  smash  ! 
crash  !  came  again  from  the  Mariners'  room. 
Every  one  in  the  house  rushed  up  in  tremendous 
excitement :  the  table-cloth  was  off,  table  upset, 
bottles  smashed.  An  ominous  silence  and  a  sense 
of  the  uncanny  fell  on  all  in  the  room ;  some 
glanced  askance  at  Sam  Blood.  More  than  one 
sharp-eyed  old  salt  noted  that  the  great,  hairy,  tat 
tooed  hands  of  the  widower  shook  amazingly, 
though  his  face  was  the  calmest  of  all  the  bronzed, 
weather-beaten  figure-heads  staring  around. 

There  has  never  been  a  meal  served  from  that  table 
since,  though  many  a  meal  has  been  spread  on  it. 
The  landlord,  a  stubborn  man  of  no  nonsense  and 
no  whims,  grimly  nailed  the  legs  of  the  table  to  the 
floor,  and  proceeded  to  set  the  succeeding  dinner 
on  the  bare  boards.  It  mattered  not,  cloth  or  no 
cloth,  every  dinner  smaH  or  great  was  always 
wrecked.  Watchers  were  set,  enjoined  not  to  take 
their  eyes  from  the  table,  nor  themselves  from  the 
room.  Something  always  happened,  an  alarm  of 
fire,  a  sudden  call  for  help,  an  apparent  summons 
from  the  landlord  —  this  but  for  a  single  moment, 
but  in  that  moment  smash  !  crash  !  went  the  dinner. 

Captain  Blood  lived  to  a  rather  lonely  and  un 
popular  old  age,  for  he  was  held  responsible  for  the 
decay  and  dissolution  of  the  Mariners'  Club  ;  and 
unjustly  enough,  for  Neptune  knows  it  was  no  wish 
of  his.  When  occasional  dinners  and  suppers  were 
given  by  nautical  men  in  wholly  mundane  rooms  in 


Tavern   Ghosts 


425 


other  taverns,  with  no  spiritual  accompaniments,  - 
that  is,  in  the  form  of  ghosts,  —  the  captain  was 
left  out.  Men  did  not  hanker  for  the  companion 
ship  of  a  man  who  left  port  with  a  wife  and  came 
home  with  a  ghost.  He  has  been  dead  for  decades, 
and  is  anchored  in  the  old  Hill  graveyard,  where 
he  sleeps  the  quiet  sleep  of  the  righteous  ;  and  the 


Montague  City  Tavern. 

name  and  virtues  of  Elvira,  his  beloved  wife,  are 
amply  recorded  on  his  tombstone.  But  her  ghost 
still  walks,  or  at  any  rate  still  wrecks.  I  don't  like 
ghosts,  but  I  really  should  like  to  meet  this  lively 
and  persistent  Yankee  wraith,  clad  in  the  meek  and 
meagre  drooping  feminine  attire  which  was  the  mode 
in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  or  perhaps  tenta 
tively  mannish  in  peajacket  and  oilskins  as  in  her 


426  Stage-coach  and  Tavern  Days 

day  of  riot  of  old.  I  really  wish  I  could  see  the 
spry  and  spiteful  spirit  of  Mrs.  Sam  Blood,  with 
her  expression  of  rampant  victory  as  she  twitches 
the  table-cloth  off,  and  wrecks  the  bottles,  and  says 
in  triumphal  finality,  "I'll  settle  for  this  dinner"; 
thus  gaining  what  is  ever  dear  to  a  woman,  even  to 
the  ghost  of  a  woman  —  the  last  word. 

Late  on  a  November  night  in  the  early  part  of 
this  century  the  landlord  and  half  a  dozen  teamsters 
sat  drinking  deep  in  the  taproom  of  the  Buxton 
Inn.  These  rough  travellers  had  driven  into  the 
yard  during  the  afternoon  with  their  produce-laden 
wagons  ;  for  a  heavy  snow  was  falling,  and  it  was 
impossible  wheeling,  doubtful  even  whether  they 
could  leave  the  inn  in  forty-eight  hours  —  perhaps 
not  for  a  week.  Their  board  would  not  prove  very 
costly,  for  they  carried  their  own  horse-provender, 
and  much  of  their  own  food.  Some  paid  for  a  bed, 
others  slept  free  of  charge  round  the  fire ;  but  all 
spent  money  for  drink.  It  was  a  fierce  storm  and  a 
great  fall  of  snow  for  the  month  of  the  year  — 
though  November  is  none  too  mild  any  year  in 
New  England.  Though  this  snow  was  too  early 
by  half  to  be  seasonable,  yet  each  teamster  was 
roughly  merry  at  the  others'  expense  that  he  had 
not  "  come  down  "  on  runners. 

With  dull  days  of  inaction  before  them  there  was 
no  need  for  early  hours  of  sleep,  so  all  talked  loud 
and  long  and  drank  boisterously,  when  suddenly  a 
series  of  heavy  knocks  was  heard  at  the  front  door 
of  the  inn.  Bang  !  bang  !  angrily  pounded  the  iron 
knocker,  and  the  landlord  went  slowly  into  the  little 


Tavern  Ghosts  427 

front  entry,  fumbled  heavily  at  the  bolt,  and  at  last 
threw  open  the  door  to  a  fine  young  spark  who 
blustered  in  with  a  great  bank  of  snow  which  fell 
in  at  his  feet,  and  who  was  covered  with  rolls  and 
drifts  of  snow,  which  he  shook  off  debonairly  on  all 
around  him,  displaying  at  last  a  handsome  suit  of 
garments,  gold-laced,  and  very  fine  to  those  country 
bumpkins,  but  which  a  "cit  "  would  have  noted  were 
somewhat  antiquated  of  cut  and  fashion. 

He  at  once  indicated  and  proved  his  claim  to 
being  a  gentleman  by  swearing  roundly  at  the  land 
lord,  declaring  that  his  horses  and  servant  were 
housed  ere  he  was,  that  they  had  driven  round  and 
found  shelter  in  the  barn  before  he  could  get  into 
the  front  door.  He  could  drink  like  a  gentleman, 
too,  this  fine  young  fellow,  and  he  entered  at  once 
into  the  drinking  and  singing  and  story-telling  and 
laughing  with  as  much  zest  as  if  he  had  been  only  a 
poor  common  country  clown.  At  last  all  fell  to  cast 
ing  dice.  The  stakes  were  low,  but  such  as  they  were 
luck  all  went  one  way.  After  two  hours'  rounds  the 
gentleman  had  all  the  half-dollars  and  shillings,  all  the 
pennies  even,  in  his  breeches  pocket;  and  he  laughed 
and  sneered  in  hateful  triumph.  Sobered  by  his 
losses,  which  were  small  but  his  all,  one  teamster 
surlily  said  he  was  going  to  sleep,  and  another  added, 
"  'Tis  high  time."  And  indeed  it  was,  for  at  that 
moment  old  Janet,  the  tavern  housemaid,  came  in 
to  begin  her  morning  round  of  work,  to  pinch  out 
the  candles,  take  up  part  of  the  ashes  from  the 
chimney-hearth,  fill  the  kitchen  pots  and  kettles, 
gather  in  the  empty  bottles  and  glasses  ;  and  as  she 


428  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

did  so,  albeit  she  was  of  vast  age,  she  glanced  with 
warm  interest  at  the  fine  figure  of  fashion  slapping 
his  pockets,  sneering,  and  drinking  off  his  glass. 
"  Why,  master,"  she  said,  staring,  "  you  do  be  the 
very  cut  of  Sir  Charles  off  our  sign-board."  "  Let's 
see  how  he  looks,"  swaggered  the  young  blade  ; 
"  where's  a  window  whence  we  can  peep  at  him  ?  " 
All  trooped  to  a  nigh  window  in  the  tavern  parlor 
to  look  at  the  portrait  of  Sir  Charles  Buxton  on  the 


The  Old  Abbey,  Bloomingdale  Road,  New  York. 

swing-sign,  but  to  no  avail,  for  there  was  yet  but 
scant  light  without,  and  they  peered  out  only  on 
thick  snowdrifts  on  the  window  panes.  But  when 
they  reentered  the  kitchen,  lo  !  their  gay  companion 
was  gone.  Gone  where  ?  Back  on  the  sign-board, 
of  course.  All  who  heard  the  oft  and  ever  repeated 
wonder-tale  would  have  scoffed  at  the  fuddled  notions 
of  a  drunken  group  of  stupid  teamsters,  but  the 
dollars  and  shillings  and  pennies  were  gone  too  — 
the  devil  knows  where  ;  and  who  was  to  pay  the 


Tavern   Ghosts 


429 


score  for  the  double  bowl  of  punch  and  the  half- 
dozen  mugs  of  flip  Sir  Charles  Buxton  had  ordered 
while  the  dicing  was  going  on,  and  a  large  share  of 
which  he  had  drunk  off  with  all  the  zest  of  flesh  and 
blood  ?  Besides,  Janet  had  seen  him,  and  Janet's  eye 
for  a  young  man  could  never  be  doubted. 

I  spent  one  night  a  few  summers  ago  in  a  tavern 
haunted  by  the  ghost  of  a  dead  past.  A  sudden 
halt  in  our  leisurely  progress  from  town  to  town, 
caused  by  a  small  but  unsurmountable  accident  to 
our  road-wagon,  found  us  in  a  little  Massachusetts 
village  of  few  houses.  The  blacksmith  had  gone  to 
a  neighboring  village  to  spend  the  night.  It  was 
twilight,  and  we  decided  not  to  attempt  to  reach  our 
intended  place  for  sojourning,  six  miles  distant. 
We  asked  of  a  passer-by  which  house  was  the 
tavern.  "  There  isn't  any,"  was  the  cheerful  answer  ; 
"  if  you  stay  here  over  night  you'll  have  to  stay  at 
the  poorhouse."  Now  this  was  rather  an  unalluring 
alternative  to  any  self-respecting  citizen,  but  the  night 
was  coming  on,  and,  after  vainly  searching  for  some 
resident  who  had  ever  had  summer  boarders,  we  deter 
mined  to  investigate  the  poorhouse.  We  found  it 
the  best  house  in  the  village.  It  was  the  almshouse, 
but  it  had  been  for  half  a  century  a  tavern  in  reality, 
when  the  post-road  lay  through  the  town  and 
travellers  were  more  frequent  than  to-day.  There 
was  evidence  of  its  tavern  days  in  the  old  taproom, 
which  had  been  converted  into  a  store-room.  The 
house  with  twenty  acres  of  land  had  been  bequeathed 
to  the  town  by  one  of  the  old  Bourne  family  that  had 
lived  in  it  so  long.  This  last  Bourne  owner  was  a 


430 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


childless  widower,  a  St.  Louis  man,  who  had  been 
away  from  the  home  of  his  youth  since  early  child 
hood  and  had  little  love  of  it  from  old  associations. 
The  poormaster  and  his  wife  we  found  to  be  tidy, 
respectable  folk,  even  folk  of  a  certain  dignity,  who 


Tavern  Pitcher.     Apotheosis  of  Washington. 

owned  the  adjoining  farm.  Their  own  house  had 
burned  down.  So  for  ten  years  they  had  run  the 
poorhouse.  It  had  not  proved  a  very  difficult  task. 
Often  there  were  no  occupants  ;  one  year  there  were 
two  Portuguese  cranberry  pickers,  stricken  with 
rheumatism  from  exposure  in  the  cranberry  bogs. 


Tavern   Ghosts  431 

Now  both  are  married  to  American  wives  and  own 
prosperous  cranberry  bogs  of  their  own.  The  poor- 
house  had  its  usual  quota  on  the  night  of  our 
sojourn  ;  we  found  two  paupers  living  there. 

There  was  not  time  to  prepare  an  extra  meal  of 
extra  quality  for  the  travellers  who  came  so  suddenly 
for  a  night's  shelter,  but  the  good  tea,  plentiful  milk, 
fine  bread  and  butter,  honey,  hot  griddle-cakes,  and 
fried  bacon  bore  testimony  of  ample  fare  and  good 
housewifery.  The  two  paupers  sat  at  the  table  and 
ate  with  us  —  a  silver-haired  old  man  of  exquisite 
cleanliness,  and  a  grotesque  little  humpback.  We 
noted  that  the  old  man  was  ever  addressed  by  all 
who  spoke  to  him  as  Mr.  Bourne,  and  during  his 
short  absence  from  the  room  after  supper  the  poor- 
mistress  told  us  that  the  almshouse  had  been  the 
home  and  this  the  farm  of  his  grandfather.  The 
supper  was  served  in  the  great  kitchen,  and  here  we 
sat  till  a  curfew  bell  rang  from  the  little  church  belfry 
at  nine  o'clock. 

Considerable  jealousy  was  shown  by  both  paupers 
in  their  eager  desire  to  talk  with  us,  and  we  learned 
that  the  dwarf  was  regarded  as  a  genius  ;  he  com 
posed  wonderful  epitaphs,  and  had  written  poetry 
for  the  county  newspaper.  He  could  set  type,  and 
could  thus  earn  his  living,  but  was  temporarily  more 
feeble  than  usual,  on  account  of  a  weight  falling  on 
his  back  ;  after  a  few  months  he  would  go  to  work 
again.  He  represented  the  brilliant  and  intellectual 
element  of  communal  life,  but  was  hopelessly  plebe 
ian  ;  while  Mr.  Bourne  stood  for  blood  and  breed 
ing.'  This  the  dwarf  Peter  scorned,  being  a  Socialist 


43  2 


Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 


in  his  creed.  A  curious  and  touching  atmosphere 
of  simplicity  and  confidence  filled  the  old  kitchen. 
The  farmer  and  his  wife  were  deeply  solicitous  for 

the  comfort  and 
health  of  their 
two  charges;  and 
as  I  sat  there, 
tiredbymylong 
drive,  a  little 
lonely  from  the 
strangeness  of 
the  surround 
ings,  there  was 
nevertheless  a 
profound  sense 
that  this  poor- 
house  was  truly 
a  home. 

It  was  in  the 
middle  of  this 
night  that  the 
experiencecame 

TOlVCTlOi;  i  to  me  of  the 
greatest  sense 
of  passive  com 
fort  that  I  have 
known  —  and  think  of  the  absurdity,  in  a  poor- 
house  !  We  heard  at  midnight  a  light  patter  of 
quick  rain,  and  soon  soft  footsteps  entered  and  our 
window  shutters  were  carefully  closed.  "  It's  me," 
said  our  landlady,  ungrammatically  and  pleasantly. 
"  J  didn't  mean  to  wake  you,  but  I  always  go  to  Mr. 


Sign-board  Grosvenor  Inn. 


Tavern   Ghosts  433 

Bourne's  room  when  it  rains  to  close  his  window 
for  fear  he'll  take  cold,  so  I  looked  at  yours,"  and 
the  old-time  figure  in  petticoat,  shawl,  and  ruffled 
nightcap  withdrew  as  quietly  as  it  had  entered. 
Then  came  the  hour  of  half-sleep,  a  true  "  dozy 
hour,"  as  Thackeray  said.  In  this  poorhouse,  with 
no  book,  no  ready  light,  I  fain  must  lie  in  silence, 
hence  an  hour  such  as  has  been  told  in  perfection 
in  a  simple  yet  finished  piece  of  descriptive  English  ; 
let  me  give  the  classic  prose  of  Sam  Pepys  —  the 
words  are  his  —  but  the  happy  hour  was  mine  as 
well  as  his  :  — 

"  Rode  easily  to  Welling,  where  we  supped  well,  and 
had  two  beds  in  the  room,  and  so  lay  single,  and  still 
remember  it  that  of  all  the  nights  that  I  ever  slept  in  my 
life  I  never  did  pass  a  night  with  more  epicurism  of  sleep ; 
there  being  now  and  then  a  noise  of  people  stirring  that 
wakened  me,  and  then  it  was  a  very  rainy  night,  and  then 
I  was  a  little  weary,  that  what  between  waking,  and  then 
sleeping  again  one  after  another,  I  never  had  so  much  con 
tent  in  all  my  life." 

When  we  awoke  the  following  morning  Mr. 
Bourne  was  awaiting  our  coming  with  some  eager 
ness.  The  dwarf  was  absent,  and  the  old  man 
apologized  for  one  or  two  of  Peter's  remarks  the 
night  before  which  had  seemed  to  him  uncivil. 
These  were,  however,  only  some  of  Peter's  mild 
bitternesses  about  division  of  property,  the  injustice 
of  modern  laws,  the  inequalities  of  taxation,  etc., 
which  had  seemed  harmless  enough  in  the  mouth 
of  a  pauper. 

While  waiting  the  leisurely  repairs  of  our  vehicle 


434  Stage-coach  and  Tavern   Days 

at  the  hands  of  the  captured  blacksmith,  I  yielded  to 
Mr.  Bourne's  eager  invitation  to  come  with  him  to 
see  a  piece  of  land  he  owned.  "  It's  been  in  the 
family  near  two  hundred  years,"  he  said  proudly. 
"Peter  says  I  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  tell  of  my  folks' 
grasping  all  them  years  God's  gift  of  the  soil  that 
ought  to  be  just  as  free  as  the  ocean  and  the  sky  ; 
but  I'm  glad  I've  got  it.  Peter's  folks  came  from 
Middleboro  way,  and  never  did  own  no  land  nor 
nothin',  and  I've  noticed  it's  them  sort  that's  always 
maddest  at  folks  as  does  have  family  things." 
After  a  few  minutes  of  silence  he  added  :  "  Peter 
can't  help  it.  It's  born  in  him  to  feel  that  way, 
just  as  it's  born  into  me  to  feel  proud  of  my  prop 
erty."  We  walked  along  the  sandy  road  under  the 
beautiful  autumnal  sky.  A  dense  group  of  stunted 
cedars  and  one  towering  fir  tree  rose  sombrely  in  a 
little  enclosed  corner  below  the  church.  "This  is 
my  property,"  said  the  old  man,  cheerfully,  "  and 
they're  all  Bournes  and  Swifts  in  it.  There  lies 
my  great-grandfather,  the  old  parson,  under  that  flat 
stone  come  from  England.  Here  is  my  mother. 
That  slate  headstone  over  there  is  for  my  brother 
lost  at  sea  on  one  of  his  voyages.  I  am  going  to 
be  put  exactly  here.  Them  four  stones  I  put  to 
mark  it.  And  Peter  hasn't  any  graveyard  —  don't 
even  know  where  his  father  is  buried  —  so  he's 
going  to  lie  over  here  in  this  corner.  He's  the 
only  one  as  ain't  a  Swift  or  a  Bourne,  and  it's  a 
great  honor  to  him.  He's  had  to  pay  me  for  it, 
though  ;  he's  written  me  an  epitaph,  and  it's  a  good 
one ;  it'll  be  the  best  one  in  the  whole  graveyard." 


Index 


Abbott's  Tavern,  111-112. 
Accidents  on  coaches,  365  et  seq. 
"Accommodation,"   service  in  travel, 

273,  298. 

Adam  and  Eveses  Garden,  157. 
Adams,  John,  quoted,  on  landlord,  69; 

on    drinking    habits,    103,    112;    on 

Revolutionary    sentiments,    170-173, 

175  ;  on  Revolutionary  song,  173. 
Addison,  quoted,  140-141. 
Ah-coobee,  101. 
Albany,    N.Y.,    tavern  at,  85-86;   foot 

post    to,    275 ;    stage  line    at,    365- 

366;    highway    robbery   in,    394    et 

seq. 

Ale,  use  of,  123. 
Alexander,  John,  highway  robbery  by, 

384  et  seq. 

Alexandria,  Va.,  turnpike  at,  232. 
Alleghany  Mountains,  pack-horses  on, 

242. 

Almshouse,  ghost  story  of,  430  et  seq. 
American  House,  Springfield,  fare  at, 

88. 
Ames,  Nathaniel,  tavern  of,  164  etseq.; 

almanacks  of,  164  ;  sign-board  of,  165. 
Amherst,    Mass.,    sign-boards  at.  123, 

421. 

Anchor  Inn,  5. 

Andover,  Mass.,  tavern  license  in, 64-66. 
Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  wine  list  of,  136; 

coach  of,  256. 
Angel  Tavern,  157. 
Animals,  at  taverns,  197-198. 
Animals'  heads,  sign-boards  of,  138. 
Annals  of  the  Revolution,  377. 


Annual  parade,  336. 

Apples,  in  New  England,  125 ;  in  Vir 
ginia,  129  ;  in  New  York,  130 ;  names 
of,  130. 

Arcade  Tavern,  294. 

Arlington,  Mass.,  taverns  at,  180. 

Armitage,  Joseph,  ordinary-keeper,  5. 

Arnold,  David,  tavern  of,  215. 

Arnold,  Peleg,  tavern  of,  352 ;  roads  of, 
352,  milestone  of,  352-353. 

Artists,  as  sign-board  painters,  142  et 
seq. 

Ashburnham  Thief  Detecting  Society, 
.  handbill  of,  393. 

Ashton,  John,  cited,  193. 

Auctions.     See  Vendues. 

Ayers,  John,  170  et  seq. 

Bacchanalians,  141. 
Backgammon,  at  coffee-houses,  49. 
Badger  and  Porter's  Stage  Lists,  273, 

372. 

Bag-o'-Nails,  141. 
Balancing  on  stage-coach,  367-368. 
Balch,  John,  post-rider,  309. 
Balloons,  at  taverns,  198  ;  on  railroads, 

285. 
Baltimore,   Md.,  taverns  in,   32;  wine 

prices  at,  88-89;  turnpikes  in,   232; 

Gonestoga  wagons  at,  247 ;  highway 

r«bbery  in,  384  etseq. 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  284. 
Bannocks,  Tuggie,  95-96. 
Bar,  in  taverns,  43. 
Barbadoes,  rum  in,  100. 
Barbadoes  brandv,  101. 


435 


43  6 


Index 


Barbadoes  liquor,  101. 

Barberries,   superstitions    about,    340- 

341- 

Barge,  use  of  word,  266-267. 

Barnum,  P.  T.,  quoted,  130. 

Barnum's  Hotel,  Baltimore,  prices  at, 
88-89. 

Barre,  sign-board  at,  168. 

Barre,  Colonel,  173. 

Barre  and  Worcester  Stage  Line,  305. 

Barrington,  R  I.,  prices  at,  79-80. 

Bartlett,  Eliphalet,  tavern  of,  47. 

Bay  Path,  224-225. 

Beakers,  glass,  44. 

Beal,  Thomas,  coach  line  of,  271-272. 

Bear,  as  a  mark,  208. 

Beaumont,  quoted,  207. 

Beehive  Tavern,  154. 

Beer,  brewing  regulated  by  law,  4; 
price  established,  4;  in  New  York, 
121 ;  in  Virginia,  121-122. 

Bell  Savage,  141. 

Bell  teams,  247. 

Bell,  Tom,  story  of,  380-381. 

Bellarmine  jug,  44. 

Bellows-top,  109. 

Bells,  on  pack-horses,  243 ;  on  Cones- 
toga  wagons,  247-248. 

Bennett,  quoted,  103,  128,  256-257. 

Berkeley,  Governor,  quoted,  122. 

Bethlehem,  Penn.,  tavern  at,  57  et  seq. 

Beverige,  131-132. 

Beverly,  Mass.,  ordinary  at,  2. 

Bible  and  Key,  157. 

Bible  and  Peacock,  157. 

Biblical  names,  of  towns,  58  ;  of  taverns, 

157. 

Bickerdyke,  quoted,  132. 
Bilboes,  8,  215. 
Billiards,  forbidden,  5. 
Bills  of  fare,  87-88. 
Bingham  house  a  tavern,  53. 
Birch,  beer  of,  123 ;  vistas  of,  346. 
Bispham's  Tavern,  Trenton,  83-84. 
Bissell's  Tavern,  150-151. 
"  Bite,"  327. 
Black  Ben,  anecdote  of,  332. 


Black,  William,  quoted,  116. 

Black  Horse  Tavern,  Winchester,  180. 

"  Blacks,"  373. 

Bladensburgh,  Md.,  tavern  at,  32. 

Black  Horse  Tavern,  39;  shows  at,  197. 

Black  jacks,  14. 

Black  Sam.     See  Samuel  Fraunces. 

Black  strap,  104. 

Bliss,  Joseph,  311. 

Bliss  Tavern,  Haverhill,  N.H.,  311, 
314- 

Blood,  Sam,  ghost  story  of,  420  et  seq, 

Blue  Anchor  Tavern,  Boston,  names 
of  chambers,  18  ;  landlord  of,  62. 

Blue  Anchor  Tavern,  Cambridge,  bills 
at,  81. 

Bogus,  104. 

Bonaparte,  Jerome,  186. 

Bonnets,  bought  by  stage-drivers,  328; 
highway  robbery  of,  408. 

Book  auctions,  197. 

Boreel  Building,  35. 

Boston,  ordinaries  in,  6,  9,  10-11,  13, 
17-19;  night  watch  in,  6;  smok 
ing  fined  in,  13;  ale-houses  in,  20; 
liquor  sellers  in,  25;  disorder  in,  26- 
27;  taverns  in,  154;  oldest  inn  in, 
180 ;  pillory  in,  218  ;  bridges  in,  228  et 
seq. ;  coaches  in,  256  et  seq, ;  stage 
coach  lines  from,  271  et  seq.,  371 
et  seq. 

Boston,  Sarah,  96-99. 

Boston  and  Hartford  Stage  Line,  291 
et  seq. 

Boston  and  Lowell  R.  R.,  287. 

Boston  and  Providence  R.  R.,  287. 

Boston  and  Worcester  R.  R.,  first  cars 
on,  287. 

Boston  Courier,  objects  to  railroads, 
289. 

Boston  Tea  Party,  181. 

Boston  Traveller,  273. 

Bound  children,  221. 

Bowen  Inn,  prices  at,  79-80. 

Bowls,  forbidden,  5. 

Box,  fragrance  of,  347. 

Brackett,  Landlord,  84-85. 


Index 


437 


Braddock,  General,  horses  and  wagons 

for,  242  et  seq. 
Braddock's  trail,  243. 
Bradford,  printer,  of  Philadelphia,  49- 

Bradish,  Sister,  encouraged  in  brewing, 

122. 
Bradstreet,  Simon,  bills  of,  5;  rides  in 

coach,  256. 
Brakes,  early,  288. 
Brandy-wine,  101. 
Bray,  Major,  robbery  of,  405  et  seq. 
Brazil,  story  of,  298  et  seq. 
Breck,  Samuel,  cited,  218. 
Bridges,  sign-boards  on,  149;   of  fallen 

trees,  223,  356 ;  building  of,  228 ;  of 

stone,  356;  of  wood,  357-358;  inse 
curity  of,  366  et  seq. 
Bridle-paths,  223. 
Brissot,  quoted,  67. 
British  Apollo,  139. 
Brookfield,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  140;  war 

at,  170  et  seq. 
Brookline,  Mass.,  turkey-shoot  in,  208  ; 

tavern,  anecdote  of,  383-384. 
Brown,  John,  chariot  of,  258-259. 
Browner,  Deb.,  94-95. 
Bryant,  Harrison,  anecdote  of,  324-325. 
Buck  Horn  Tavern,  169. 
Buckman  Tavern,  23,  179-180,  384. 
Bucks     County     Historical     Society, 

Pennsylvania,  239,  252. 
Buffalo  Bill,  coach  of,  265. 
Buggy,  258. 

Bull  and  Mouth,  141-142. 
Bull-baiting,  209. 
Bully  Dauson,  punch  recipe  of,  119- 

120. 
Bunch  of  Grapes,  lecture  at,  198,  204- 

205. 

Bunting,  92. 

Burke,  Edmund,  quoted,  103. 
Burlington,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  182-183. 
Burnaby,  quoted,  90. 
Burning  at  stake,  218-219. 
Burns,  George,  36. 
Bush,  as  tavern-sign,  169. 


|  Butchers,  as  letter-carriers,  274. 
Butler,  coach-driver,  268. 
Buxton  Inn,  ghost  story  of,  426  et  seq. 
Bynner,  Edwin  Lasseter,  quoted,  196- 
'197. 

Cable  cars,  285. 

Calash,  described,  257. 

Calibogus,  104. 

Calves'  head  soup,  89. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  seating  meeting  at, 
16-17 1  first  landlord  at,  63 ;  first 
liquor  license  at,  63;  selectmen's 
bills  at,  81 ;  negro  burned  in,  218- 
219. 

Canajoharie,  N.Y.,  stages  at,  236; 
spelling  of  name,  237. 

Canary,  use  of,  32. 

Canton,  Mass.,  flip  in,  109. 

Captain  Lightfoot,  402. 

Captain  Thunderbolt,  402-403,  407. 

"  Carding,"  forbidden,  5. 

Carriages,  for  pleasure,  227  ;  in  Phila 
delphia,  256. 

Cars  on  railroads,  285  et  seq. 

Carts,  near  Boston,  257 ;  in  New  Eng 
land,  313. 

Cart-bridges,  228. 

Cartways,  222. 

Castle  Inn,  scene  at,  28-29. 

Cat  and  Wheel,  141. 

Catfish  suppers,  90-91. 

Catherine  Wheel,  141. 

Cato's  House,  40-41. 

Cnttle  tracks,  223. 

Cavalry  corps,  in  Massachusetts,  226. 

Central  Hotel,  Worcester,  303. 

Centrebrook,  Conn.,  tavern  at,  152-153. 

Chain  bridge,  Newburyport,  230. 

Chair,  described,  258. 

Chaise,    described,   257-258;    French, 

258. 
!  Chalking  his  hat,  233. 

Chapin,  C.  W.,  338. 

Chariots,  253,  258-259. 

Charles  River,  bridge  over,  228  et  seq. 
\  Charlestown,  M.iss.,  great  house  at,  15. 


438 


Index 


Charlestown,  N.H.,  tavern  at,  154; 
coachman  at,  323. 

Cheney,  B.  P.,  338. 

Chester,  Vt.,  marriages  at,  345. 

"  Chopping,"  327. 

Church,  Dr.,  a  traitor,  181. 

Cider,  use  of,  103  et  seq.  ;  price  of,  125", 
128,  129;  manufacture  of,  128. 

Ciderkin,  130. 

Cider-royal,  130. 

City  Hotel,  Hartford,  bill  of  fare,  89. 

City  Hotel,  New  York,  37  et  seq. 

City  Tavern,  New  York,  33  et  seq. 

Claret,  use  of,  136. 

Clark's  Inn,  Philadelphia,  55  et  seq. 

Clawson,  John,  murder  of,  341-342. 

Clifford's  Tavern,  thief  sold  at,  219-220. 

Clubs,  in  taverns,  35. 

Cluffe,  Richard,  anecdote  of,  4-5. 

Coachee,  described,  257. 

Coaches,  in  England,  253-256;  objec 
tions  to,  254 ;  books  about,  255-256  ; 
in  America,  256  et  seq.;  in  Scotland, 
283. 

Coachmen,  in  England,  323,  328,  336- 

337- 

Coast  Path,  224. 
Cochran,  Mordecai,  233. 
Coffee,  introduction  of,  48 ;  abuse  of, 

48. 
Coffee-houses,  in    London,   47-48;    in 

New  York,  48-49;   in  Philadelphia, 

49-50;  in  Boston,  50-51. 
Coffyn,  Tristram,  keeps  ordinary,  2. 
Cohos  Turnpike,  309. 
Cohos  Valley,  308. 
Cole,  Samuel,  keeps  ordinary,  180. 
Coles,  Robert,  two  sentences  of,  8. 
Collier,  William,  wine  seller,  63. 
Collin's  Tavern,  92. 
Comfortier,  46. 
Commutation,  in  travel,  298. 
Concerts,  at  taverns,  203. 
Concord,  Mass.,  lack  of  ordinary  in,  2; 

tavern  at,  179. 
Concord,  N.H.,  coach-making  in,  264- 

265  ;  stagemen's  ball  at,  336. 


Conestoga  wagons,  first  appearance  in 
history,  242-243  ;  payment  for  use  of, 
242;  a  pride,  245;  shape  of,  246; 
equipment  of,  247-248;  number  of, 
249;  in  Revolution,  250;  in  War  of 
1812,  250;  in  New  England,  312  et 
seq. 

Conkey  Tavern,  186-188. 

Connecticut,  laws  in,  2;  apples  in,  125. 

Convicts  sent  to  America,  374. 

Cook,  Tom,  381  et  seq. 

Coolidge,  turnkey,  406. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  quoted  68- 
69. 

Cooper  Tavern,  180. 

Corduroy  roads,  227-228. 

Courts  held  in  taverns,  213-214. 

Cowper,  quoted,  266. 

Cox,  Lemuel,  bridges  of,  229  et  seq. 

Craft's  Tavern,  205. 

Creels,  transportation  by,  283. 

Criminals,  public  punishment  of,  214 
et  seq. ;  sale  of,  219-220. 

Cromwell's  Head  Tavern,  84-85. 

Crosby,  J.,  advertisement  of,  117-118. 

Curricle,  described,  257-258. 

Cutpurse,  Moll,  374. 

Cutter,  Joseph,  tavern  of,  153. 

Danbury,  Conn.,  railroad  incident  at 

287. 
Dancing,  forbidden,  4,  6 ;  at  New  York 

ball,  39. 

Danforth,  Nicholas,  sells  wine,  63. 
Danforth,  Samuel,  anecdote  of,  10. 
Dankers,  quoted,  130. 
Darrach,  Mrs.  Lydia,  action  of,  378. 
Daughters  of  Liberty,  173. 
Davenport,  George,  tavern  bill  of,  177- 

178. 

Deer  seen  from  coach,  345. 
De  Lanceys,  house  of,  35-36,  183-184. 
De  Lancey  Arms,  bull-baiting  at,  209. 
Dennie,  Joseph,  206-207. 
De  Quincey,  quoted,  360. 
Dicing  forbidden,  5. 
Dickens,  Charles,  quoted,  255. 


Index 


439 


Distances,  elastic,  354. 

Doanes,  story  of,  377  ct  seq. 

Dogs,  turnspits,  55-57. 

Doherty,  John,  402. 

Doolittle  Tavern,  153. 

Door-latch,  iron,  42. 

Dorchester,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  175. 

Drafts,  in  America,  374-375. 

"  Draw,"  327. 

Dress  of  stage-drivers,  325-326. 

Drift  of  the  forest,  210. 

Drivers,  rivalry  of,  269 ;  of  wagons  in 

New  England,  313. 
Driving,  rules  for,  333-334. 
Drunkenness,  laws  about,  7  et  seq.,  34- 

35;  of  coachmen,  295,  328. 
Dunbarton,  N.H.,  219-220. 
Dunton,  John,  quoted  on  landlord,  5, 

62;  on  punch  bowl,  116. 
Dutch,  drink  of,  103. 
Duxbury,  Mass.,  ordinary  at,  3,  64. 
Dwight,  Dr.,  quoted  on  landlords,  66. 

Eagle    Coffee-house,   Concord.,   N.H., 

336. 

Eagle  Tavern,  East  Poultney,  Vt.,  46. 
Eagle  Tavern,  Newton,  N.H.,  46-47. 
Ear-bells,  247. 

Earl  of  Halifax  Tavern,  175-177,  278. 
Early  start  of  stage-coaches,  294,  369 

et  seq. 

East  Poultney,  Vt.,  taverns  at,  46. 
East  Windsor,  Conn.,  tavern  at,  150- 

153- 
Eastern   Stage  Company,  273  et  seq.; 

drivers  of,  332,  338. 
Eastern  Stage  House,  199. 
Ebulum,  132. 

Egan,  Pierce,  books  of,  321-322. 
Egg-hot,  in. 
Egg-nogg,  Cato's,  41. 
Egg-nogg  stick,  114. 
Eicholtz,  sign-board  by,  153. 
Electrical  machines,  at  taverns,  198. 
Ellery   Tavern,    Gloucester,    accounts 

at,  80-8 1. 
Elopements,  344-345. 


Emerson,    Joseph,     ownership     of    a 

"  shay,"  259-260. 
Emerson,   R.    W.,   anecdote   told   by, 

358-359. 
Endicott,  Governor,  bills  of,  5 ;  apples 

planted  by,  125. 
Enlisting,  188  et  seq. 
Epping,  N.H.,  anecdote    of  coaching 

at,  368-369. 

Ernst,  C.  W.,  quoted,  227,  267,  280. 
Essex  Bridge,  229. 
Essex  Turnpike,  231. 
Everett,  David,  207. 
Exchange    Coffee-house,    Boston,    50 

et  seq.,  199. 

Exchange  Hotel,  Worcester,  300. 
Exchange  Tavern,  Boston,  45. 
Execution  Day,  217,  312. 
Experiment  railroad,  284. 

Falstaff  Inn,  155. 

Farming,  327. 

Farrar,  Major  John,  keeps  tavern,  293. 

Father  of  the  Turnpike,  297. 

Fayal  wine,  use  of,  32. 

Fayetteville,  N.C.,  bridge  at,  366-367. 

Federal  Convention  Inn,  145  et  seq. 

Ferries,  ordinaries  at,  2;  establishment 
of,  228 ;  frozen  in,  279. 

Fessenden,  T.  G.,  207. 

Fiennes,  Celia,  quoted,  244-245. 

Finlay,  Hugh,  quoted,  277-278. 

Fireplaces,  41-42. 

Fisher,  Joshua,  164. 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  16. 

Fitzhugh,  Colonel,  apple  trees  of,  129. 

Flagg,  Parson,  marriages  of,  345. 

Flip,  description  of,  108 ;  early  note  of, 
108;  in  Canton,  Mass.,  109;  in  Eng 
land,  no;  recipe  for,  in  ;  price  of, 
112;  taste  of,  113. 

Flip  dog,  112. 

Flip  glasses,  109-110. 

Flip  iron,  112.    ' 

Floating  bridges,  228,  367. 

Flowers,  of  gardens,  347  ;  of  fields,  347; 
of  orchards,  348. 


44° 


Index 


Flying  machines,  261. 

Flying  Mail  Stages,  261. 

Flying  wagons,  261. 

Foot-bridges,  228. 

Foot-paths,  223,  225. 

Foot-port,  275. 

Fountain  Inn,  Baltimore,  Md.,  32. 

Fountain  Inn,  Medford,  Mass.,  53  etseq. 

Four  Alls,  160-161. 

Fox  and  Hounds,  168. 

Fox-chase,  209,  210. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  home  of,  a  tavern, 
53;  quoted,  69-70;  on  sign-board, 
152 ;  at  tavern,  195 ;  secures  wagons 
for  Braddock's  Army,  242-243  ;  mile 
stones  of,  353  ;  cyclomt- ter  of,  353. 

Franklin  Inn,  159. 

Fraunces,  Samuel,  183-184. 

Fraunces  Tavern,  183-184. 

Freemasons,  at  tavern,  180,  203  et  seq. 

Freight  cars,  287. 

Frey,  S.  L.,  cited,  211. 

Furs,  243. 

Games,  prohibited,  5. 

Gardens,  347. 

Garrigues  Ferry,  91. 

Gates  on  turnpikes,  237. 

General  Ticket  Office,  of  Pease,  298. 

Genessee  Valley,  234. 

Gentlemen  sailors,  189  et  seq. 

Germantown,  Penn.,  155. 

Ghosts,  in   England,  409 ;    in  taverns, 

410;  of  Indians,  410. 
Gig,  226. 
Gimlet  team,  314. 
Gin,  use  of,  103. 
Gloucester,  Mass.,  tavern  bills  at,  80- 

81. 

Goat  and  Compass,  141. 
Going  Down  with  Victory,  360. 
Golden  Hill  Inn,  184-185. 
Golden  Lion,  163. 
Good  Intent  Coach  Line,  268. 
Good  Woman,  162-163. 
Grafton,  Mass.,  Indians  at,  96. 
Grease-pot.     See  Tar-lodel. 


Green  Bush,  169. 

Green  Dragon  Inn,  180-181. 

Greenfield,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  153. 

Gregory's  Tavern,  Albany,  85-86. 

Greyhound  Tavern,  10,  24. 

Grog,  104. 

"  Grub,"  249. 

Guide-boards,  354. 

"  Gumption,"  130. 

Hall,    Basil,   quoted,   67,   79,   208-209, 

290,  370. 

Hall,  Francis,  quoted  on  landlords,  66. 
Hammond,  John,  quoted,  131-132. 
Hancock,  John,  on  sign-board,  152;  at 

Liberty  Tavern,  175. 
Hancock  Tavern,  152. 
Handkerchief  with  postal  lists,  281  et 

seq. 

Hanging  in  chains,  342. 
Hardy,  Governor,  dinner  to,  36. 
Hare   Brothers,  highway   robbery   by, 

386  et  seq. 

Harnesses  of  Conestoga  wagons,  247. 
Harrington        Tavern,       Shrewsbury, 

Mass.,  299. 
Hartford,    Conn.,    tavern     at,    43-44; 

ordination  bill  at,  82. 
Harvard  College,  cider  at,  125 ;  Com 
mencement  at,  128;  love-making  in, 

216-217;  pillory  in,  218. 
Harvey,  Governor,  complaint  of,  32. 
Hat  Tavern  and  Sign-board,  147. 
Hatch,  Israel,  coach  lines  of,  271-272. 
Haverhill,  N.H.,  tavern  and  stage  life 

in,  309-319. 

Hawthorne,  quoted,  218. 
Hayden  Tavern,  sign-board  of,  28,  150. 
Hays'  Tavern,  Brattleboro,  65. 
Hen  and  Chickens,  151-152. 
Henry,  Edward  Lamson,  collections  of, 

32-33- 

Herndon,  John,  curse  of,  341. 
Hicks,  sign-board  by,  239. 
Highwaymen,  in  England,  373,  375;  in 

America,  374  et  seq. 
Highwaywomen,  408. 


Index 


441 


Hingham,  Mass.,  Thief  Detecting 
Society  of,  393. 

Histrionic  academies,  200. 

Hogarth,  sign-board  by,  160. 

Holden,  Mass.,  flip  at,  111-112. 

Holland,  J.  G.,  quoted,  225. 

Holyhead  Road,  230-231. 

Horns  as  tavern-signs,  169. 

Horse-bridges,  228. 

Horse-cars,  285. 

Horse-paths,  237. 

Horse  thief,  211  et  seq. 

Horses  as  tavern-signs,  152;  rearing  of, 
226 ;  plenty  of,  227 ;  of  Conestoga 
breed,  247  ;  in  Boston,  257  ;  on  New 
England  wagons,  315;  on  stage 
coaches,  332-333 ;  false  tails  on,  333. 

Hotels,  evolution  of,  51-52. 

Hottle,  112. 

Hound-handle  pitcher,  26. 

Hundredth  Town,  96. 

Hutchinson,  Governor,  milestones  set 
by,  35°. 

Ibbetson,  sign-board  by,  142. 

Indian    Queen   Tavern,   Bladensburg, 

32. 
Indian    Queen  Tavern,   Philadelphia, 

52-53- 

Indians,  sale  of  rum  prohibited  to,  7, 
103  ;  leniency  to,  92  et  seq.  ;  on  sign 
boards,  154;  attack  on  Brookfield, 
170  et  seq. ;  wars  of,  170  et  seq.;  paths 
of,  223  et  seq.;  as  mail-carriers, 
274-275  ;  ghosts  of,  410. 

Inn,  use  of  word,  30. 

Insurance  office  in  tavern,  198. 

Inveigling  of  girls'  affections,  216-217. 

Ipswich,  Mass.,  landlord  at,  69;  ship 
ping  at,  217. 

Ipswich  River,  bridge  on,  358. 

Irish  workers  on  roads,  233-234. 

Jackasses,  sale  of,  197. 
Jacks.     See  Black-jacks. 
Jansen,  quoted,  263. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  quoted,  232. 


Jencks,  Reuben,  tavern  or,  410  et  seq. 

Jencks  Tavern,  ghost  story  of,  410-419. 

Johnstown,  N.Y.,  tavern  at,  85. 

Jokes,  of  landlords,  70  et  seq.;  at  tav 
erns,  92. 

Jordan,  John  V.,  account  of  The  Rose 
Tavern,  57. 

Josselyn,  John,  quoted,  69,  129. 

Joyce,  Herbert,  quoted,  281. 

June  Bug,  coach  line,  268. 

Kalm,  quoted,  130. 

Kennebunk  Road  by  the  Sea,  224. 

Kentucky,  metheglin  in,  124. 

"  Kids,"  374. 

Kieft,  Director,  quoted,  33. 

Kill  devil,  100,  101. 

King's  Arms,  Boston,  inventory  of,  17 

et  seq. 
King's  Arms,  Newport,  play  at,  200  et 

seq. 

King's  College,  services  at,  36. 
King's   Head  Tavern,  Brooklyn,  209- 

210. 

Kittery,  Me.,  makes  road,  224. 
Knights,   Sarah,   quoted,   76  et   seq. ; 

journey  of,  76. 
Knot  bowl,  Indian,  44. 

Lackawanna,  pauper  sold  at,  221. 

Lafayette,  on  sign-boards,  152;  at 
taverns,  186,  195,  301. 

Lamb,  Charles,  quoted,  119. 

Lamb  Tavern,  199. 

Lambert,  John,  quoted,  333. 

Lancaster,  Mass.,  cider  at,  128. 

Lancaster,  Penn.,  taverns  in,  143  et  seq., 
213-214;  sign-boards  in,  143  ;  Cones- 
toga  wagons  in,  243,  252 ;  pack-horses 
at,  245 ;  steam  cars  at,  287 ;  stage 
coach  at,  370-371. 

Lang,  Andrew,  quoted,  414. 

Langdon,  J.  F.,  334. 

La  Rochefoucauld,  cited,  227. 

La  Tour,  indignity  to  his  companion,  n. 

Lay  Preacher,  206-207. 

Lebanon  Tavern,  157. 


442 


Index 


Lecture  Day,  218. 

Lemons,  sign  of,  139. 

Lemons,  117. 

"  Leveller,"  382. 

Lexington,  Mass.,  taverns  at,  179-180; 

highway  robbery  at,  384. 
Ley,  Lord,  at  Boston  ordinary,  6. 
Liberty  poles,  173. 
Liberty  trees,  173  et  seq. 
License,  of  taverns,  64  et  seq. 
Life  in  London,  321-322. 
Lighthouse,  Sandy  Hook,  36-37. 
Lime  Rock,  R.I.,  tavern  at,  44. 
"  Limited  "  service,  of  travel,  298. 
Linnaeus,  classification  of,  347. 
Literary  Club  of  Walpole,  205-207. 
Little  Falls,  N.Y.,  fare  at,  85. 
Lloyd,  Governor,  house  a  tavern,  53. 
Locomotives,  early,  284,  286. 
Loggerhead,  108-109. 
Loggets,  forbidden,  5. 
London    Coffee-house,    Philadelphia, 

49- 

Londonderry,  Ireland,  bridge  at,  229. 
London  Labour  and  London  Poor,  320. 
Longfellow,  quoted,  371. 
Lottery,  for  Sandy  Hook  Lighthouse, 

36 ;  at  taverns,  203. 
Louis  Philippe,  at  tavern,  181. 
Lowell,  quoted,  113. 
Loyal  Garland,  133. 
Loyalists,  377. 

Lucas,  John,  chariot  of,  258. 
Ludlow,  Lt.,  robbery  of,  384  et  seq. 

Macadamized  roads,  231  et  seq. 

Macraby,  Alexander,  quoted,  49. 

Madeira,  use  of,  32,  103 ;  prices  of,  88, 
89. 

Madigolum,  58. 

Madison's  War,  191. 

Mail,  transportation  of,  269 ;  by 
butchers,  274;  by  Indians,  275;  by 
post,  275;  irregularity  of,  275;  con 
ditions  of  service,  277-278 ;  in  Eng 
land,  281;  in  Scotland,  283  et  seq.; 
in  United  States,  297,  305. 


Mail-coaches,  on  Holyhead  Road,  230- 
231;  at  Whitestown,  N.Y.,  236;  at 
Canajoharie,  237;  in  England,  255, 
280;  in  America,  269,  280  et  seq.; 
glories  of,  360. 

Mail  Stage  Carriages,  261. 

Maize,  beer  from,  121,  122. 

Malaga,  use  of,  30. 

Maiden  Bridge,  229. 

Man  Full  of  Trouble,  159  et  seq. 

Man  Loaded  with  Mischief,  159  et 
seq. 

Man  Making  his  Way  through  the 
World,  161-162. 

Manners  at  taverns,  78. 

Mansion  House,  Philadelphia,  86-87. 

March,  Hugh,  keeps  an  ordinary,  2-3. 

Marden,  H.  P.,  335. 

Mariners'  Club,  420. 

Market,  winter  ride  to,  316-320. 

Markham,  Gervayse,  133. 

Marlborough,  Mass.,  224. 

"  Marmalet-madams,"  6. 

Martin,  Mike,  career  of,  401  et  seq. 

Maryland,  road  house  in,  33;  pillory 
in,  218 ;  turnpikes  in,  232,  234 ;  rail 
roads  in,  284-285. 

Massachusetts  Grand  Lodge,  204. 

Mather,  Cotton,  quoted,  20. 

Mather,  Increase,  quoted,  102. 

Mather,  Samuel,  quoted,  117. 

May,  Silas,  opens  stage  line,  309. 

McAdam,  James,  231. 

McAdam,  Loudon,  231. 

McGowan's  Tavern,  249-250. 

Mead,  use  of,  123-124. 

Meals,  price  of,  4;  at  early  taverns,  76- 

77-  3i7- 

Medford,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  53  et  seq. 
Meeting-house,  relation  to  tavern,  13- 

14,  discomforts  of,  14. 
Melish,  John,  quoted,  85,  230,  371. 
Mendenhall  Ferry  Tavern,  90-91. 
Mendum,  Jack,  anecdote  of,  331-332. 
Merchants'  Coffee-house,  49. 
Metheglin,  use  of,   124-125,   price  of, 

124. 


Index 


443 


Mileposts,  in  Massachusetts,  350-351; 

in  Connecticut,  351-352;   in  Rhode 

Island,  352. 
Militia,  249. 

Miller,  "  Devil "  Dave,  73-74. 
"  Mimbo,"  104. 

Miner,  H.  S..  quoted,  313,  332,  334. 
"  Mitchin,"  317. 
Mohawk  Turnpike,  234  et  seq. 
Molasses,  rum  from,  103;  beer  from, 

122. 

Monk,  George,  62. 
Monroe  Tavern,  179. 
Monteith  punch  bowl,  115. 
Moore,  Thomas,  quoted,  366. 
Moose,  exhibited,  197-198. 
Morland,  George,  sign-board  by,  142. 
Morton,  Thomas,  punished  in  bilboes, 

215- 

Mowry,  Roger,  tavern  of,  340. 
Mowry's  Inn,  44. 
Mulberry  trees,  346. 
Mulled  wine,  recipe  for,  136. 
Murline,  Jacob,  love-making  of,  216- 

217. 

Nahant  Hotel  plate,  206. 
Naming  of  chambers,  17-18. 
Nangatuck,  Conn.,  tavern  at,  92. 
Narragansett,    travel    in  341,  et  seq.; 

murder  in,  342;   shift  marriages  in, 

343;  elopement  in,  344-345;  burial 

of  suicide  in,  344. 
Narragansett  Pacers,  226. 
National  Line.  268. 
National  Road,  travellers  on,  195,  233 ; 

construction  of,  232  et  seq.;    coach 

lines  on,  268  et  seq. 
Negro  highwayman,  388. 
Negus,  137. 

Neighborliness,  of  colonists,  i. 
Newbury,  Mass.,  ordinary  at,  2. 
Newburyport,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  145 ; 

bill  at,  177-178 ;  bridge  at,  230. 
Newburyport  Turnpike,  231. 
New  Connecticut  Path,  224. 
New  Exchange,  N.Y.,  48-49. 


New  Hampshire,  stage-drivers  in, 334- 

336. 

New  Liberty  Song,  173. 
New  London, Conn. .milestone  at,  353. 
New  Netherland,  taverns  in,  33. 
Newport,  R.I.,  turtle-feast  at,  90;  play 

at,  200  et  seq. 

Newspapers,  at  taverns,  91-92. 
New  York,  taverns  in,  33  et  seg.,  90; 

just  from,  275. 
Night-watch,   rules  in   Boston,  6;    in 

Bethlehem,  Penn.,  58  etseq.;  rhymes 

of,  60. 

Ninepins,  forbidden,  5. 
Nipmuck  Trail,  224. 
Noah's  Ark,  157. 

Norfolk,  Va.,  impressment  in,  191-192. 
Notions  of  the  Americans,  68,  82-83. 
Nutmeg-holders,  137. 
Nutmegs,  use  of,  136-137. 

"  Ocuby,"  101. 

Ohio  Company,  organization  of,  205. 

Ohio,  settlement  of,  234  et  seq.;  emi 
gration  to,  416. 

Old  Connecticut  Path,  224. 

Oldmixon,  quoted,  125. 

Olmstead,  Nicholas,  in  pillory,  218. 

Olney  Tavern,  174. 

Omnibus,  273. 

Ordinaries,  use  of  word,  i,  30;  reasons 
for  establishment  of,  2;  inducements 
to  keep,  2 ;  restrictions  upon,  3-4,  7, 
10-11. 

Ordination  ball,  82. 

Ordination  beer,  82. 

Ordination  Day,  82 ;  liquor  at,  116. 

"  Owlers,"  373. 

Pack-horses,    in    England,   241,   244; 

on  Alleghany  Mountains,  242-244; 

common  carriers,  245. 
Paddock,  coaches  of,  280. 
Palmer,  starts  mail-coaches,  280. 
Parkman,  Dr.,  diary  of,  383. 
Parley,  Peter,  quoted,  186,  284-285. 
Parlor,  of  tavern,  41-42. 


444 


Index 


Patriot  Brothers,  sign-board,  149. 

Paulus  Hook,  stage-coaches  from,  262. 

Paupers,  sale  of,  220-222. 

Peachy,  132. 

Pease,  Levi,  293  et  seq. 

Pease  Tavern,  291  et  seq. 

Peg  Mullen's   Beefsteak   House,  203- 

204. 
Pelham,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  186-188  ;  tolls 

at,  240. 

Pembroke  Tavern,  sign-board  of,  217. 
Penn,  Richard,  home  a  tavern,  53. 
Penn,  William,  quoted,  104. 
Pepys,  Samuel,  quoted,  433. 
Pequot  Trail,  milestone  on,  353. 
Perkins  Inn,  sign-board  of,  152. 
Perry,  132. 

Persimmons,  beer  from,  122. 
Phelps,  Joseph,  150. 
Philadelphia,  Penn.,  taverns  in,  33,  86- 

87 ;  as  a  port,  33  ;  sign-boards  in,  163  ; 

freemasons  in,  203;  courts  in,  213; 

carriages  in,   256;    lines  of  stages, 

261,  267-268. 
Phillips  House,  45. 
Pick-a-back,  across  rivers,  223-224. 
Pig  and  Carrot,  141. 
Pillion,  226. 
Pillory,  218. 

Pine  trees  of  the  King,  346. 
Pine  Tree  Tavern,  46. 
Pioneer  Line,  268-270. 
Pipe-tongs,  46. 

Pitcairn,  Major,  anecdote  of,  179. 
Pitt,  William,  sign-board  of,  151,  156, 

173.  177- 

Pitt  Tavern,  151. 
Plays,  at  taverns,  200  et  seq. 
Plymouth,  Mass.,  first  wine  sellers  in,  63. 
Plymouth  Path,  224. 
"  Pod,"  316. 
"  Podanger,"  314. 
"  Pointing,"  327. 
Pompoins.    See  Pumpkins. 
Poore  Tavern,  159. 
Portsmouth,  N.H.,  tavern  at,  175-176; 

stage  line  at,  278  et  seq. 


Portsmouth  Road,  342. 
Post,  riding  with,  76;  by  foot,  275-276; 
duties   of,  275 ;    in  Haverhill,  N.H., 

3°9- 

Postal  rates,  282. 
Postlethwaite's  Tavern,  213-214. 
Postmaster,  salary  of,  277. 
Post-riders,  276-277. 
Potatoes,  beer  from,  122. 
Potter,  Paul,  sign-board  by,  142-143. 
Pottle,  84. 

Prairie  schooner,  252. 
Pratt,  Matthew,  sign-board  by,  146. 
Prescott,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  186-188. 
Press-gang,  191-192. 
Prices  of  tavern  fare,  4,  5,  31,  79-82,  84, 

85,  88-89. 
Products,  of  New  England  farm,  316- 

317. 

Providence,  R.I.,  first  ordinary  at,  16, 
340;  Liberty  Tree  at,  174;  rival 
coach  lines  from,  271  et  seq. 

Providence  Path,  224. 

Province  Arms,  New  York,  35  et  seq. 

Province  House,  Boston,  a  tavern,  53. 

Prygman,  219. 

Pseudonyms,  207. 

Pumpkins,  beer  from,  122,  123. 

Punch,  use  of,  103,  115,  116;  deriva 
tion  of,  114;  recipe  for,  116-117,  120; 
price  of,  118, 177 ;  names  of,  118-119. 

Punch  bowls,  114  et  seq. 

Punch  Bowl  Tavern,  turkey-shoot  at, 
208. 

Punch-tasters,  118. 

"  Pung,"  316. 

Punishments,  214  et  seq. 

Putnam,  Israel,  a  landlord,  145. 

Pye,  John,  robbery  of,  394  et  seq. 

Pygarg,  197. 

Quakers,  whipped,  217. 

Quarles,  quoted,  29. 

Quawbang,  170. 

Queen's  Birthday,  celebration  of,  26. 

Queen's  Head,  183. 

Quick,  Elmira,  sold  as  pauper,  221-222. 


Index 


445 


Quincy,  Eliza  S.,  quoted,  276. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  quoted,  104,  294-295, 

370-37L 

Quincy  Railroad,  284. 
Quoits,  forbidden,  5. 

Rabbit,  on  sign-board,  153. 
Railroads,  early,  284  et  seq.;  objections 

to,  288-290;  discomforts  of,  349. 
Rainbow  Coffee-house,  48. 
Raleigh  Inn,  155. 
Rambarge.    See  Rumbarge. 
Rambooze.     See  Rumbooze. 
Ramsey,  landlord,  74-75. 

Recruiting  offices,  taverns  as,  188  etseq. 

Redemptioners,  374. 

Red  Rose  of  the  Olden  Time,  57  et  seq. 

Reed,  President,  quoted,  250. 

Regulars,  249. 

Reins,  on  Conestoga  wagons,  248 ;  on 
stage-coaches,  334. 

Revere,  Paul,  engraving  by,  84 ;  quoted, 
181. 

Rhymes,  oi  taprooms,  45;  of  night- 
watch,  60-6 1 

Ribbonmen,  401. 

Riedesel,  Baron,  quoted,  103. 

Road-bed  of  early  railroads,  288. 

Road  house,  33. 

Road  wagon,  260. 

Roads,  earliest,  223;  quality  of,  227; 
in  England,  230  et  seq. 

Robinson,  Hannah,  elopement  of,  344. 

Robinson's  Tavern,  175. 

Rogers,  Fairman,  quoted,  265. 

Rose  Tavern,  57. 

Royal  Exchange  Tavern,  Boston,  204. 

Rum,  first  use  of  word,  100;  derivation 
of  word,  100 ;  varying  prices,  102, 
103  ;  in  mixed  drinks,  104  et  seq. 

Rumbarge,  101. 

Rumbooze,  description  of,  101. 

Rum  bottles,  102. 

Rumbowling,  101. 

Rumbullion,  100. 

Rumfustian,  description  of,  101. 

Russel  Tavern,  180. 


Rye,  N.Y.,  ordinary  at,  77. 

Sack,  selling  prohibited,  4;  early  men 
tion  of,  133  et  seq.;  application  of 
name,  133  ;  price  of,  134 ;  in  America, 
135  et  seq. 

Sack-posset,  use  of,  134;   recipe  for, 

134-135. 

Sail  boats,  on  sign-boards,  159. 
Sailors,  on  sign-boards,  158-159. 
Salem,  Mass.,  tavern  bill  of,  16     sign 
board     in,     19-20;     woman     keeps 
tavern  in,  20;  animal  shows  at,  197. 
Salem,  N.J.,  tavern  prices  at,  118. 
Salem  and  Boston  Turnpike,  231. 
Salt,  on  pack-horses,  244. 
Saltonstall,  Nathaniel,  protest  of,  21-22. 
Sanborn,  Charles,  334. 
Sandy  Hook  Lighthouse,  36-37. 
Sangaree,  134. 
Sassafras,  beer  of,  123. 
Scents,  of  woods,  348  ;  of  gardens,  348- 

349;  of  fields,  347-349 ;  of  fruits,  349, 
Schoolboys  on  coaches,  329-330. 
Schuylkill  Bridge,  230. 
Scotchem,  105-108. 
Seabury,  liquor  seller,  64. 
Sea  terms  in  land  travel,  267. 
Seating  the  meeting,  16-17. 
Selectmen,  bills  of,  80-81. 
Sewall,  Samuel,  Judge,  compared  with 

Pepys,  24 ;    character  of,  24-25 ;  on 

a  wedding,   135-136;    buys  trunks, 

330 ;  on  suicide,  344. 
Shad,  planked,  89. 
Shaffer,  anecdote  of,  272. 
Shaw,  Major,  on  railroads,  339. 
"  Shay,"  258 ;  cost  of,  259. 
Shays's  Rebellion,  186  et  seq. 
Sherris-sack,  134. 
Shift  marriages,  343. 
Ship  in  distress,  159. 
Shouldering,  326. 
Shows,  in  taverns,  28. 
Shrewsbury,  Mass.,  tavern  talk  at,  172; 

taverns  at,  291  et  seq. 
Shuffle-board,  forbidden,  5. 


446 


Index 


Sign-boards,  in  early  ordinaries,  19-20 ; 
use  of,  138  et  seq. ;  materials  of,  138  ; 
in  business,  138-139;  incongruity  of, 
139  et  seq.;  on  bridges,  238-239. 

Sign-posts,  established,  138. 

Sikes.    See  Sykes. 

Silent  Woman,  162. 

Singing,  forbidden,  4. 

Skidding,  327. 

Skinners,  377. 

Slat  sign,  149. 

Sledding,  313. 

Sledges,  transportation  by,  241,  283. 

Sleeping  accommodations,  77-79,  318. 

Slide-groat,  forbidden,  5. 

Sling,  104. 

Small  drink,  described,  121. 

Smith,  Adam,  on  smuggling,  373. 

Smoking-tongs,  46. 

Snake  heads,  286. 

Sniggers  and  Vesta's  Gap,  turnpike  to, 
232. 

Snow-shoes,  post  on,  275 ;  mail  carried 
on,  297. 

Sons  of  Liberty,  37,  173. 

South  Kingston,  R.I.,  shift  manages 
at,  373- 

Southworth,  Constant,  wine  seller,  63. 

Sowrings,  117-118. 

Spectator,  140. 

Spike  team,  314. 

Sports  of  the  innyards,  5. 

Sprague,  Francis,  ordinary-keeper,  64. 

Springfield,  Mass.,  fare  at,  88. 

Spruce,  beer  of,  122-123. 

Stadt  Harberg,  33. 

Stage,  use  of  word,  265-267. 

Stage-chair,  278. 

Stage-chaise,  261. 

Stage-chariot,  261. 

Stage-coaches,  of  year  1828,  218 ;  in 
England,  255,  274;  in  Boston  and 
Rhode  Island,  260-261 ;  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  263;  of  year  1818,  263-264; 
application  of  word,  265;  in  Penn 
sylvania,  268;  rates  on,  270,  273; 
rates  in  England,  271;  from  Ports 


mouth,  278  et  seq.,  sights  from,  345 
et  seq. ;  courtship  on,  359-360. 

Stage-drivers,  323 ;  characteristics  of, 
324  et  seq. ;  dress  of,  325-326 ;  shop- 
ing  done  by,  328  ;  drinking  habits  of, 
328;  names  of,  332;  on  railroads, 
387 ;  tales  of,  341. 

Stage-lists,  273. 

Stage-men's  Ball,  336. 

Stage-wagons,  in  England,  251,  255; 
out  of  Boston,  261;  in  Pennsylvania, 
262,  268. 

Stamp  Act,  37. 

Stark,  General,  victory  of,  205. 

State  House  Inn,  Philadelphia,  55. 

Stavers  Coaching  Line,  278  et  seq. 

Stavers  Inn,  175-178,  278-279. 

Stickney  Tavern,  sign-board  of,  203. 

St.  John's  Lodge,  204. 

Stocks,  use  of,  8,  215. 

"  Stogies,"  245-246. 

Stone  wall,  130. 

Stow,  quoted,  253. 

Stratford,  Conn.,  milestone  at,  353. 

Stratton,  Arad,  tavern  of,  151. 

Streets,  naming  of,  138. 

Strong  waters,  selling  prohibited,  4. 

Struggling  Man,  161-162. 

Stuart,  Gilbert,  sign-board  by,  145. 

Stuyvesant,  Governor,  laws  of,  34. 

Sudbury,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  43,  180,  371. 

Suicides,  burial  of,  344. 

Sumner,  Charles,  quoted,  369. 

Sun-line  house,  46. 

Suspension  Bridge,  230. 

Swift,  Dean,  quoted,  132,  266. 

"  Swiftnicks,"  398. 

Switchel,  132. 

Sykes  Coffee-house,  300. 

Sykes,  Reuben,  293  et  seq.,  300. 

Talleyrand,  at  tavern,  181. 
Tally,  forbidden,  5. 
Tally-ho,  use  of  word,  266. 
Tap-houses,  New  York,  34-35. 
Taproom  rhymes,  45. 
Taprooms,  19,  42  et  seq. 


index 


447 


Tar-bucket.     See  Tar-lodel. 

Tar-lodel,  246-247. 

Tarleton  Arms,  310. 

Tarleton  Inn,  story  of,  309-310;  sign 
board  of,  310,  312. 

Tarleton,  Wm.,  309-310. 

Tavern  behind  Nazareth,  57. 

Taverns,  use  of  word,  30;  in  Southern 
colonies,  30  et  seq. ;  establishment  of 
laws  about,  31,  34-35'.  prices  at,  31, 
42, 118, 177-178 ;  names  of  rooms  in, 
17 ;  in  New  Netherlands,  33  et  seq. ; 
names  of,  35;  as  war  rendezvous, 
172;  as  auction  rooms,  197;  as  busi 
ness  exchanges,  198;  as  insurance 
offices,  198;  as  jails,  212,  303;  on 
Albany  Turnpike,  235  ;  in  Scotland, 
283.  Also  see  names  of  Towns  and 
Ordinaries. 

Taylor,  M.  M.,  milestone  of,  351 ; 
tavern  of,  352. 

Taylor,  the  Water  Poet,  quoted,  255. 

Taylorsville,  Penn.,  bridge  sign-board 

at,  239. 

Teamsters,  249. 
Thackeray,  W.  M.,  cited,  322. 
Thief  Detecting  Societies,  393. 
Thieves,  band  of,  388  et  seq. 
Thomas'  Exchange  Coffee-house,  300. 
Thorburn,  Grant,  quoted,  72-73,  362- 

363- 

Three  Broiled  Chickens,  183. 
Three  Crowns,  Lancaster,  Penn.,  143- 

144. 

Three  Jolly  Sailors,  158. 
Three  Loggerheads,  142. 
Throat-lashing,  327. 
Tipping,  326. 
Tippling-houses,  31. 
Tithing-man,  duties  of,  9. 
Tobacco,  restrictions  on  use  of,  12-13 

as  payment,  31 ;  drawers  for,  45. 
Toby  Fillpots,  134- 
Todd,  Margaret,  40. 
Todd,  Robert,  39-4°- 
Toddy,  derivation  of  word,  39-40;  mad 

of  rum,  104;  price  of,  178. 


bddy-stick,  description  of,  114. 
oil-boards,  237,  238. 
'oil-gates,  on  Mohawk  Turnpike,  237. 
"oils,  rates  of  237-238  :  commuted,  298. 
Tontine  Association,  37. 
bpsfield  Bridge,  356. 

Towelling,"  327. 

'ransportation,    by    water,    241;     on 

horse-back,  241  et  seq. 
'ravelling-bags,  331. 
Trenton,  N.J.,  tavern  fare  at,  83,  84; 

bridge  at,  230. 
Trout,  boiled,  89. 
Troy  coaches,  269. 
Trunks,  old  time,  330. 

ryer,  on  punch,  114. 
'  Tuck-a-nuck,"  317. 
Tufts,  Henry,  story  of,  375  et  seq. 
Turkey-shoot,  207-209. 
Turnpikes,  231  et  seq.,  297  et  seq.;   in 

Scotland,  284,  297;  profits  on,  297; 

desertion  of,  297. 
Turnspit  dogs,  55-56. 
Turtle,  as  gifts,  90. 
Turtle-feasts,  90. 

Tuttle,  Sarah,  love-making  of,  216-217. 
Twining,  Thomas,  quoted,  263,  326, 367. 
Twist,  slang  term,  142. 
Twitchell,  Ginery,  career  of,  301  et  seq.; 
coach  of,  303;   description  of,  304; 
makes  election  returns,  304 ;  obtains 
mail  contracts,  305. 
Tyler,  Royall,  207. 

Union  Place   Hotel,  New  York,   fare 
at,  88. 

Vardy,  Luke,  204. 
Veazie  Road,  286. 
Vendues,  at  coffee-houses,  49,  197: 

at  taverns,  219 ;  of  thieves,  220 ;   of 

paupers,  221  et  seq. 
Victuallyng-house,  2. 
Virginia,  ordinaries  in,  30  et  seq.; 

metheglin  in,  125. 

Wadsworth  Inn,  Springfield,  43-44- 


448 


Index 


Wagons,  going  to  Ohio,  235  et  seq. ;  in 

England,  250;  rates  on,  271;  in  New 

England,  312-315. 
Walker's  Tavern,  154,  162. 
Wall  decorations,  42. 
Walnut  tree  chips,  beer  from,  123. 
Walpole,    N.H.,   literary   life   in,  205- 

207. 

Wanmanitt,  trial  of,  341. 
Wardwell,  John,  stage-coach   line  of, 

260-261. 

Wardwell,  Lydia,  whipped,  217. 
Warning  out  of  town,  4. 
Warren,  General,  at  tavern,  181. 
Warwick,  R.I.,  stocks  at,  215;  chariot 

at,  258-259. 

Washington  bowers,  156. 
Washington    Crossing   the   Delaware, 

149. 
Washington,   George,  at   Boston,  84; 

farewell  to  army,  184 ;  at  taverns,  195, 

293,  300-301 ;  news  of  death,  278. 
Washington  Tavern,  Lancaster,  Penn., 

73;    Philadelphia,    Penn.,    149,    154; 

Westfield,  Mass.,  42 ;  Holmesburgh, 

Penn.,  148-149;  Wilbraham,  Mass., 

196. 

Washingtonian  Reform,  127. 
Watch.     See  Night-watch. 
Water,  travel  by,  241. 
Water-cider,  130. 
Watering-troughs,  354-356. 
Waterloo    Tavern,    Lancaster,    Penn. 

143-144. 

Watson,  quoted,  147,  256. 
Wayside  Inn,  43,  180,  292,  371. 
Webster,  Daniel,  cited,  182 ;  at  taverns, 

195-196. 

Weddings,  at  ordinary,  5. 
Weed,  Thurlow,  quoted,  79. 
Weld,  quoted,  257,  367. 
Weller,  Tony,  quoted,  290. 
Wells'  Tavern,  sign-board  of,  382. 
West,  Benjamin,  sign-boards  by,   143 

et  seq, 

Westborough,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  136. 
West  Boston  Bridge,  230. 


Westfield,  Mass.,  tavern  at,  42. 

Whig  Tavern,  205. 

Whip,   of  Conestoga  teamsters,   248 ; 

of  stage-drivers,  334. 
Whipping-post,  215-216. 
Whirlicote,  253. 
Whiskey,  described,  258. 
Whistle-belly-vengeance,  132. 
White,  Captain,  keeps  ordinary,  3. 
White,  George,  exploits  of,  390  et  seq. 
Whitestown  mail  stages,  236. 
Whittier,  quoted,  188. 
Wickford,  R.I.,  tavern  at,  45. 
Wilder,  Joseph,  cider  of,  128. 
Willet,  Edward,  35. 
Williams,  Roger,  quoted,  128. 
Williams  Tavern,  sign-board  of,  152- 

153- 

Wilson,  Richard,  sign-board  by,  142. 

Wines,  in  Virginia,  32;  prices  of,  88- 
89. 

Winn,  John,  home  of,  182  et  seq. 

Winn,  Joseph,  in  Revolution,  183. 

Winne,  the  penny-post,  bravery  of, 
399-400. 

Winter,  coach  travel  in,  362  et  seq. 

Winthrop,  John,  on  a  disturbance  in 
Boston,  lo-n;  on  health-drinking, 
15;  quoted,  115;  pick-a-back,  224. 

Winthrop,  John,  Jr.,  owns  a  coach, 
256 ;  sends  letters,  274. 

Wolcott,  Governor,  apples  planted  by, 
125. 

Wolcott,  Oliver,  at  tavern,  186. 

Wolfe,  General,  sign-board  of,  145,  211. 

Wolfe  Tavern,  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  145; 
Boston,  Mass.,  145;  Newburyport, 
Mass.,  145;  sign-board  of,  211 ;  bill 
of,  177. 

Wolf-rout,  210. 

Women,  as  tavern-keepers,  20,  40; 
burned  at  stake,  218 ;  on  horse 
back,  226 ;  in  stage-coaches,  369 ;  as 
highway  robbers,  408;  hanged  in 
Boston,  408. 

Woodbury,  Bartholomew,  351. 

Woodbury  Tavern,  milestone  at,  351. 


Index 


449 


Woodman  Tavern,  155. 
Woodside,  sign-boards  by,  148. 
Woodward,  James,  punished,  8,  215. 
Worcester,    Mass.,    singing     at,    173; 

milestone  in,  350-351. 
Wright,  Robert,  punished,  8. 
Wright  Tavern,  179. 

Yale  College,  cider  at,  126. 


Yard  of  Flannel,  in. 

Yellow  Cat,  163. 

Yellow  Cottage,  155-157. 

York,  Me.,  sign-board  at,  172;   road  at, 

224. 
York  County,  Penn.,  tavern  rates  in,  105. 

Zinzendorf,         Count,         night-watch 
rhymes  of,  59  et  seq. 


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